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Should I buy an expensive 290x?

Soldato
Joined
30 Mar 2010
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Under The Stairs!
:D Should I buy an expensive 290x?

No,

Having a 290 that unlocks to a 290X, you wouldn't be able to separate the difference gameplay wise, the only difference you get are the higher BM no's.

Oc'ed 290 will surpass stock 290X and them some, when both are oc'ed the performance delta is even closer.


Step 1-

1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE AMD 8GB 2400MHz Memory Kit £299.99



^
3Slot cooler but that gets you one of the best coolers on the 290's.

Step 2- Swap the faster ram into your system, or double up on ram and you are ready to oc the 290.:D

Step 3-Punt the 2500k and get a 3770K with the £60 saving.
 
Caporegime
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ARC-L1, Stanton System
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 May 2009
Posts
3,541
Location
London
Powercolor 290X at sub £300 wins easily.


P.S. After you've sold the free memory kit OcUK give with it.

Honestly looking at the powercolor reviews it's difficult to justify getting the Sapphire especially when the memory bundle is there. I won't even need to sell it since I need an 8GB RAM set no matter what.

Ok I'm off the Sapphire, and I'll put the extra money I save towards another future graphics card. :D Now it's just the 290 vs 290x.....
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 May 2009
Posts
3,541
Location
London
No,

Having a 290 that unlocks to a 290X, you wouldn't be able to separate the difference gameplay wise, the only difference you get are the higher BM no's.

Oc'ed 290 will surpass stock 290X and them some, when both are oc'ed the performance delta is even closer.


Step 1-

1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE AMD 8GB 2400MHz Memory Kit £299.99



^
3Slot cooler but that gets you one of the best coolers on the 290's.

Step 2- Swap the faster ram into your system, or double up on ram and you are ready to oc the 290.:D

Step 3-Punt the 2500k and get a 3770K with the £60 saving.

That's useful to know cheers, I'm already getting a 4790k at a shockingly cheap price :D and my old components are already covering the cost of the processor and motherboard.

It's a little tempting to go for the 290x version though just because it saves the hassle of pushing the overclock myself and I'm already saving quite a lot of money this way, but I'll look at the budget and you're right it's a £60 difference for not very much change in performance :)
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 May 2009
Posts
3,541
Location
London
Fair, well as long as the memory deal is on I'll go for the Powercolor 290 then. If not I'll start looking at vapor cards again but it's very difficult to argue with a >£150 saving when that's half way towards a second 290 :p.

Many thanks to everyone who's posted it's been really useful to get a variety of opinions :)
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Mar 2010
Posts
13,008
Location
Under The Stairs!
Oh how's the fan noise at load btw for you? :) I assume you're still using the stock cooler..

Don't have one, I have a ref Powercolor 290 unlocked to an X, and a DCUII OC 290X in Crossfire.

Tommy 'The Dremel' Bhoy don't use no stinkin' stock cooler :p

He,He, You know me to well-I hate them all:D

Modded DCUII OC 290X with Kuhler 920 aio+KRAKEN G10


ref 290/x is sitting atop the AC Xtreme with modded-'Beast' VRM on the bottom Pci-e.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 May 2009
Posts
3,541
Location
London
Tommy 'The Dremel' Bhoy don't use no stinkin' stock cooler :p

Don't have one, I have a ref Powercolor 290 unlocked to an X, and a DCUII OC 290X in Crossfire.



He,He, You know me to well-I hate them all:D

Modded DCUII OC 290X with Kuhler 920 aio+KRAKEN G10


ref 290/x is sitting atop the AC Xtreme with modded-'Beast' VRM on the bottom Pci-e.

Haha alright :p I'll just see how it goes and hope for the best. Cheers again!
 
Associate
Joined
27 Apr 2007
Posts
2,161
Location
Edinburgh
:D
Some genius once said that. Can't remember who it was exactly, but I've heard he was well hung and popular with the ladies. :D

You heard wrong, they said he wasn't a genius and he was also he was hung from a tree for attacking ladies. :D

I'm looking at that Vapor X to replace my MSI GE, I just prefer the look tbh lol.
Does anyone know if they're that much bigger than the MSI cards?
 
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