Which Ref 290 ?

[hakank68]

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

 

[hakank68]

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.

the custom cooled ones seem to be a lot more expensive. do you reccon they will drop in price ?

 

[hakank68]

what else would you recommend for around £280-£330 as im scared the stock cooler will just be too loud and hot.

 

[hakank68]

i think the custom cooled 290 will be pushing my budget around £380.

 

[hakank68]

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).

i think this will cost more than the custom cooled 290's

 

[hakank68]

i forgot to ask, will setting a frame limit on some games help reduce the heat and noise of the reference 290 ?

 

[hakank68]

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]

Thanks , do you think the reference 290 will be bearable for about a year until it goes underwater or would you rather wait for the aftermarket ones. Would you say that the black screen issues are a big thing to worry about ? Last thing, will setting a frame limit reduce the cards heat in certain games ?

Sorry for all these questions but I just can't justify the 290, it's a great card for what you pay but it has many issues . AMD really struggle to make something perfect don't they