[Newegg] Gigabyte Windforce R9 290 - $222 AR

[SteveGrabowski]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125505

Cheapest I have ever seen an R9 290 selling for. $252 up front and a $30 mail in rebate.

 

[WT]

Triple fan design should keep things cool. I would be all over this if I hadn't bought a 7970 for dirt cheap 2 months ago.

 

[cytoSiN]

Triple fan design should keep things cool. I would be all over this if I hadn't bought a 7970 for dirt cheap 2 months ago.

The reviews complain that it runs HOT, and people are complaining about failures as well. Anyone have one of these and care to comment?

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I forgot what site I was reading (could swear it was Russian), but they benchmarked a bunch of 290s and they got the best temperatures from

1) Sapphire Vapor-X
2) Power Cooler PCS+
3) Sapphire Tri-X

MSI Gaming and Gigabyte Windforce were middle of the pack, and I think Asus DirectCU was one of the worst (of course not counting the epic fail reference cooler, which was way worse than any of the aftermarket axial coolers). Just going by memory though.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

This isn't the review I was thinking of, but they compare some R9 290s and R9 290x's at Toms Hardware:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-290-and-290x,3728-6.html

 

[chizow]

The reviews complain that it runs HOT, and people are complaining about failures as well. Anyone have one of these and care to comment?

That can be an issue for these custom-cooled cards, especially ones that might use the same heatsink for multiple models so that contact points for certain components aren't quite "custom".

For this card, like many other open-air cards, its possible the VRMs aren't being adequately cooled leading to some of the failures. Not a huge surprise since these Hawaii cards have been shown to pull close to 300W.

Can see the VRM cooling here is not quite as good as the mosfets adjacent to them using just a thick thermal pad interfacing some flattened fins.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/g...-290-windforce-oc-review-1600p-ultra-hd-4k/2/

Good price though, also includes 4 games!

 

[Rvenger]

I'd stay away from it with a 10 foot pole. That card was a nightmare for me. First, it would lock up at stock clocks on Valley bench. I updated to the new BIOS then it started throwing a pink screen on occasion. It is guaranteed to ship with elpida VRAM too.

The VRMs were cool and CPU temps never went over 72c. ASIC score was 88.5% but didn't mean anything because I think the issue were in the PCB itself.

Not to mention how warped the PCB was when I received it and there was no way to adjust it.

 

[Termie]

I'd stay away from it with a 10 foot pole. That card was a nightmare for me. First, it would lock up at stock clocks on Valley bench. I updated to the new BIOS then it started throwing a pink screen on occasion. It is guaranteed to ship with elpida VRAM too.

The VRMs were cool and CPU temps never went over 72c. ASIC score was 88.5% but didn't mean anything because I think the issue were in the PCB itself.

Not to mention how warped the PCB was when I received it and there was no way to adjust it.

Is this the card you're currently using (as per sig?).

I'd go for the Sapphire Tri-X right now at $250AR if shopping for a 290.

 

[Rvenger]

It was and I tried returning it and Newegg would not do a refund RMA. I called again and got them to give me a Newegg store credit instead.

 

[Jhatfie]

I went ahead and rolled the dice to replace the old 660ti in my son's rig. I looked at the reviews of lots of 290's and just about all of them seem to have similar failure issues. Hopefully it will work as advertised. If I was going to get a 290 for my personal gaming rig where I was going to attempt a solid OC, I would likely get the PCS+ or the Sapphire, but for my son it should be fine.