R9 290X Reference or R9 290 Custom

[andyrp2001]

There is only £20 difference between a reference R9 290X and a custom (Windforce) R9 290. What's the best option considering the potential issues (coil whine, heat, noise) associated with the R9 290X; is it worth risking those issues for the extra performance over the custom R9 290 or should I just go with the custom R9 290? A custom R9 290X would be out of budget.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[Jasonst888]

technically with the factory oc and the better cooler you should see almost stock 290x performance with a windforce 290, specially if you oc it.

That being said, there is an element of the silicon lottery!

 

[Rusty0611]

290 custom.

 

[andyrp2001]

Thanks for the advice so far; one quick question though - does the number of stream processors have much impact? (clearly if the difference was a magnitude of a thousand I would imagine it would matter but the difference is only a few hundred between my 2 options).

Thanks,
Andy

 

[Rusty0611]

At the same clock speed the 290X will be faster due to the increased spec (stream processors fall into this). However, the custom 290s are faster out the box more often than not as they're cooler (so no throttling issues) and are clocked higher than comparative 290X.