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Thoughts on XFX Radeon R9 290 DD?

Snubber

Snubber

Snubber

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9 Aug 2004
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428
Location
Plymouth, UK
Looking to upgrade my GTX570 and looking for the best bang for buck. Game at 1080p...not looking to go any further than that.

Reviews are fairly thin on the ground for this card. Anyone out there run this card and can give me their thoughts.

Obviously will be a big step up from my GTX 570.

GTX 970's look great from a heat/noise perspective...but the £60 saving can't be sniffed at. I would also make good use of the 4 free games...been planning on getting Alien Isolation and Civ Beyond Earth.
 
I'm in the same boat (also GTX570) and trying to make a decision. Have you looked at the PCS+ 290 for 200 quid? (good reviews across the board) Seems to be the best bang for buck. Was about to buy it but my 3 year old non-premium 700W PSU is swaying me towards the Galax 970.
 
The only review I found warned about high VRM tempo. The PCS seems to be a decent card and is good value. You could always spend another £99 on the ROG Matrix 290x today!
 
I had a XFX 290 DD and a 970 G1 delivered yesterday. The 290 was installed into the HTPC and the 970 G1 was installed in the upstairs gaming PC. Both computers have an i7 4770k @ 4.2GHz and are connected to 1080p displays. I fired up Far Cry 4 and both played identically and were smooth. Shadow of Mordor was the same with both cards.By same I mean perfectly smooth, I have no idea about actual fps. The 970 ran about 20c cooler than the 290. This is in part due to the fact it's in a case with significantly better air flow (Fractal R4 vs Silverstone GD07). Both are quiet. The 970 also scored higher in Firestrike.
 
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I have the XFX DD 290 and although BF4 looks a tad better with the 290 than it does when I'm using my MSI 780.......I do when using mantle get some fps drop outs with the 290 and the game can be a little jerky....so not sure I would buy a second 290.

Also when using my 780 I do get a few more fps ....but not much more .
 
Another vote for the pcs, not that there is anything wrong with the DD coolers. They're good, but the pcs will cool better and will come with Hynix mems as opposed to Elpida on the DD.
 
Yes the PCS+ is a steal the cooler is excellent and i would say is probably one of the coolest running custom cooled 290's if not the best, and the is pretty quite in operation or at least mine was.
 
foster grant said:
I have the XFX DD 290 and although BF4 looks a tad better with the 290 than it does when I'm using my MSI 780.......I do when using mantle get some fps drop outs with the 290 and the game can be a little jerky....so not sure I would buy a second 290.

Also when using my 780 I do get a few more fps ....but not much more .
Click to expand...

Probably something to do with the colour profiles AMD has setup in it's driver. I've always found games looked a bit more 'vibrant' on Radeon cards going all the way back to the ATI 9600 pro/Geforce FX5600 days.
 
I was going to get a pcs+, as read lots of reviews about hot vrms on the XFX, but then decided on the galax 970. mainly because it was cooler and less power and the main game I play favours nvidia
 
I've had the Xfx for about 4 weeks now and I am really happy with it :)

Great bang for buck but any of then around That money are good !

(They look to be sold out now )
 
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