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Which Ref 290 ?

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
 
It would depend on what your issue with the card is. I didnt find the reference noisy and hot but rather noisy or hot but never both at the same time outside of stress tests. Other people cannot tolerate noise of 45% fan speed or whatever it was on the initial patch but i found it fine.

As for black screens, this is a memory issue. I only experience black screens when going past 1550 on memory (have elpida not hynix and stock is 1250), but then again, i don't play BF4 which is where many people reporting black screens are getting them. If you black screen at stock, you can RMA it though, so not really an issue imo.

Setting a frame limit will lower the cards load when it would normally give higher frames. As to whether it significantly improves temps, this would be dependant on the drop in load i suppose.

The ONLY issues i have found with this card is that third party software gives off readings on GPU load and that finding the perfect mining config was difficult.
 
I had the ref 290 I would NEVER recommend one. They are hot, loud and you could have the black screen problems. Wait for the custom coolers or do what I did and get a 780.
 
For people saying that reference card is not too hot or loud - this is all subjective but what is fact is the R9 290 series are probably the most power hungry consumer graphics cards ever created and due to this they are one of the loudest (the cooler itself is no different to the one on previous generations but due to the extra heat the fan has to spin faster than previous generations).

It is both loud and hot to me coming from low noise systems but I even find the SP120 quiet editions audible but I still use them as my Sharkoon Silent Eagle 1000 rpm's pushed closed to no air.
 
Hence why most of us with ref 290's are seeking ways to cool them by whipping off the junk reference stuff and slapping them under water or putting other solutions on them
 
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