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** SAPPHIRE R290 PRO REVIEW & 1000+ IN STOCK!! **

Well I've ordered the 290 Pro, not sure whether to keep my 290x order now which is due be to delivered this week and only costing me £70 more than the 290 Pro.

Worth it for the extra 10% increase in performance?
 
Tute said:
The Good:

Well NVidia's price cuts have been completely nullified in terms of performance. What a performer for £320!

The Bad:

Hotter, noisier, and more power hungry than the R290X, to the point where Anandtech won't recommend it.

Gibbo, is it really as bad as is being made out?
Click to expand...

In my testing I found R290 Pro and R290X to both run same/similar temps, if anything always in the R290 Pros favour as after all it's got less cylinders under the bonnet.

I think it's a superb card for the money, yes 780's are quieter and a 780 over clocked to 1300MHz core would match performance of one of these at 1200 core clock and be far quieter. Let's not forget AMD's mantle and True Audio, plus new drivers could unleash more performance.

290, 780 or R290X, all superb, NVIDIA is quieter and AMD have a slight performance edge and cost less.
 
Gah I just bought the Sapphire now wondering if I should have gone for a 780 instead! Coming from the hot noisy 6970 I'm hoping I won't notice the noise.... Fingers crossed my Enermax 620w PSU is up to task....
 
stealthgeek said:
Gah I just bought the Sapphire now wondering if I should have gone for a 780 instead! Coming from the hot noisy 6970 I'm hoping I won't notice the noise.... Fingers crossed my Enermax 620w PSU is up to task....
Click to expand...

You have a 14 day period if you change your mind, by the "sounds" of things without watercooling or a custom air cooler I think they will be just as noisy as a 6970.
 
I can live with ther cooler for that price, IMO the 290x is all but irrelevant but for benchmarkers and the 780 looks expensive again.

As for Anandtech it looks like Nvidia have being having a private word with them to make a big point over the cooler something they did not do with the 290x, I mean the 290 has the same cooler as the 290x, it should perform the same.
 
So without water cooling this card will have sky high temps, and will be extremely noisy. Damn and i was thinking of getting one. Also i dont think my 650W PSU can run this thing
 
RavenXXX2 said:
I can live with ther cooler for that price, IMO the 290x is all but irrelevant but for benchmarkers and the 780 looks expensive again.

As for Anandtech it looks like Nvidia have being having a private word with them to make a big point over the cooler something they did not do with the 290x, I mean the 290 has the same cooler as the 290x, it should perform the same.
Click to expand...

Indeed you can always change the fan profile yourself. We have 290X users here saying 55% fan speed is not that loud, yet they're kicking up a fuss over 40-47% fan speed. :confused:
 
A brilliant price. No idea why a review site would praise the 290X but moan about the noise on the 290 when it seems to use the exact same reference cooler, and generates less heat.

Are the new drivers publicly available yet?
 
LtMatt said:
Indeed you can always change the fan profile yourself. We have 290X users here saying 55% fan speed is not that loud, yet they're kicking up a fuss over 40-47% fan speed. :confused:
Click to expand...
May be they think PC gamers don't use their hardware inside a case but in open-air bench on a desk/table at ear-level like they do? :D

No offense, but I use my graphic card inside a case, and the case is placed under my desk not on the desk :P
 
Last edited:
LtMatt said:
Indeed you can always change the fan profile yourself. We have 290X users here saying 55% fan speed is not that loud, yet they're kicking up a fuss over 40-47% fan speed. :confused:
Click to expand...

Your right matt, as i've said and even shown in pics, with my 290X @1100/1400 and fan set at 55% the card neither runs hot or loud.

I'd make a short vid if anyone was interested?
 
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