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Which Ref 290 ?

hakank68

hakank68

hakank68

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Joined
13 Nov 2012
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Welling
Hello, after 2 days of pain trying to make a decision on which gpu to get, i have come to a decision to go for the R9 290, now the only thing left is, which one do i go for, i have an Air 540 case (which may help the blower type cooler). I will be watercooling around 10-12 months time. I am stuck between the Asus Gigabyte and MSI version, the Msi come with better warranty as well as a copy of BF4. Also one last question, will watercooling void the warranty of the card.

Thanks in Advance :)
 
Is there any particular reason you want a reference one? With aftermarket 290s just around the corner (mid to late Jan), I'd recommend you wait and get one of them. That's what I'm doing anyway.
 
hakank68 said:
Hello, after 2 days of pain trying to make a decision on which gpu to get, i have come to a decision to go for the R9 290, now the only thing left is, which one do i go for, i have an Air 540 case (which may help the blower type cooler). I will be watercooling around 10-12 months time. I am stuck between the Asus Gigabyte and MSI version, the Msi come with better warranty as well as a copy of BF4. Also one last question, will watercooling void the warranty of the card.

Thanks in Advance :)
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Get the MSI one. Three year warranty, removing cooler will not void warranty unless you damage the card in doing so. Perfect for water cooling.
 
RyanF said:
Is there any particular reason you want a reference one? With aftermarket 290s just around the corner (mid to late Jan), I'd recommend you wait and get one of them. That's what I'm doing anyway.
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the custom cooled ones seem to be a lot more expensive. do you reccon they will drop in price ?
 
what else would you recommend for around £280-£330 as im scared the stock cooler will just be too loud and hot.
 
I have a ref 290, the only reason i bought it was because a) it was on an amazing deal at the time (£300 with BF4 and Silver ticket) and b) because i intend to cool it with a waterblock.

If i was not going to cool it then i definitely would have waited for the non refs to come, sitting here now with my 290, if i load up BF4 it gets noisy, definitely wait the week or two more for the non ref cooled clocked versions, the card is a beast but it does want that extra bit of TLC in the noise and heat dept
 
Get a reference and a AIO watercooling unit (Such as the accelero hybrid or the nzxt kraken) - which will cost the same or a little more and reuse the AIO watercooler again for future GPU's saving you money and always buying cheapest reference cards not to mention no 3rd party cooler will cool as good as these aftermarket AIO coolers and they will exhaust the heat out of your case unlike every other 3rd party cooler (except the HIS IceQ and the Evga Superclocked series).
 
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Vegeta said:
Get a reference and a AIO watercooling unit (Such as the accelero hybrid or the nzxt kraken) - which will cost the same or a little more and reuse the AIO watercooler again for future GPU's saving you money and always buying cheapest reference cards not to mention no 3rd party cooler will cool as good as these aftermarket AIO coolers and they will exhaust the heat out of your case unlike every other 3rd party cooler (except the HIS IceQ and the Evga Superclocked series).
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i think this will cost more than the custom cooled 290's
 
you can also buy a sapphire card and remove the ref cooler and not void the warranty if bought through ocuk.

edit: i had a ref 290 and it was alright noise wise to be fair, i watercooled it because i was going to watercool anyway so i thought if im buying a block may aswell get a card to go with it :D
 
ArchAnGeL said:
can the cooler be removed from the vtx without voiding warranty?
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Does it have warrantY stickers on the screws? If not then as long as you don't damage the card while removing the ref cooler and putting on the third party/water block(and liquid damage if watercooling) you should fine, just stick the ref cooler back on when rmaing(thats what gibbo said regarding the Sapphire version of the 290x which doesn't have the stickers back when 290x was released) :p
 
hakank68 said:
i think this will cost more than the custom cooled 290's
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I think you missed the point. I for example bought a R9 290 for £300 including BF4 when it was on sale and a Arctic Accelero Hybrid VGA cooler - costing £362.50 this will cool the card better than any Gigabyte Windforce/Asus Direct CU/HIS IceQ whatever and cost the same (possibly more for anyone looking to get it now as the GPU is £330 and also I sold my BF4 for £18).

When it comes to your new upgrade in the future after the R9 290 you will have the same dilemma possibly - you will have to buy a 3rd party cooler design as the reference cooler won't be as good (nvidia ones are great but still a lot worse than the 3rd party ones) so you will again pay a extra £30-£70 premium where as I would just put this Arctic Accelero Hybrid onto my new gpu saving me more money with better cooling. If you want a cheaper option get the Kraken and then a AIO watercooling cooler in the members market or eBay these go cheap 2nd hand.
 
I think waiting for the aftermarket 290's will be the beat option. Hassle free and I've heard they will have better quality components ( not sure how true though)
 
hakank68 said:
I think waiting for the aftermarket 290's will be the beat option. Hassle free and I've heard they will have better quality components ( not sure how true though)
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Tends to be true but that's only significant if you're wanting them under water for significant overclocks like the 780 classified's.
 
Only the top after markets come with premium components like better chokes and power phasing. These come at quite a hefty price premium (even compared with other aftermarkets) and are not worth paying for unless you are aiming for records. My reference 290x does 1241/1500 on just +100mv, i will bring it higher if i ever feel the need to flash it and get more grunt but i doubt that will be soon.

I would go for an MSI or Sapphire card if you slap a block on it. Only go after market on those, if you think that it is worth paying the premium for a temporary after market cooler until it goes under water.
 
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