Buy R9 290/780 now or wait for new generation in 2 months?

[Global688]

IMO By the time you buy and install an aftermarket cooler and also get good VRM cooling, you might as well just spend a bit more and buy a used Tri-X version instead of a reference 290, since they will probably end up costing about the same.....and the Tri-x will hold its resell value a bit more than a modded reference card IMO.

I was looking at reference 290x's (30 more than a 290) Did the same calculations. By the time I got the the extra cooling I'd be pushing up near the custom cooling solutions that had a 90 day warranty. Warranty won out.

 

[Cutterhead]

Based on this thread I picked up a tri-x 290 on eBay yesterday for $320 shipped. Apologies to Nearox if I bought the card you were going for! I think there are more listings pretty often.

 

[MTDEW]

Based on this thread I picked up a tri-x 290 on eBay yesterday for $320 shipped. Apologies to Nearox if I bought the card you were going for! I think there are more listings pretty often.

Agreed, the cheap/used reference cards are only a real good deal if you plan on water cooling IMO.
Otherwise, just buy one with a good cooler already on it.
OR
If you buy a reference card and just run them with the stock cooler with the stock fan profile and don't mind it hitting 90c+ , then the used reference ones are a good deal too.
Because anything over 55% fan speed does get a bit loud on the reference models.
That is what I did with my other 290 that was a cheap/used/ex-mining reference card I bought with bitcoin here in the Anadtech FS/Trade forum .....I put it in the wifes PC and left everything at defaults and she couldn't be happier with it. :thumbsup:

 

[MTDEW]

Oh, and none of us mentioned, if you're buying used, dont forget to take advantage of being able to ask if the card has Hynix memory before you buy one.
You'd prefer Hynix over Elpida memory on these cards.

And one of the luxuries of buying used, is you can ask what memory the card has before buying , unlike buying new and just "hoping" for Hynix memory. :biggrin:

EDIT:
Cutterhead, you're probably good to go with a Tri-X.
I haven't seen anyone yet with a Sapphire Tri-X or Vapor-X having anything but Hynix memory.
Only the Sapphire reference 290's are "luck of the draw" and you might get Elpida or Hynix according to all the Sapphire owners on the overclock.net forums.
As for other brands of 290's? .... I don't know.
I own Sapphire cards, so naturally those are the threads I follow the most. :thumbsup: