Which AMD Radeon R9 card should I get?

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toughtrasher

toughtrasher

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Mar 17, 2013
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I'm not necessarily going to purchase an R9 graphics card at this moment, but I'm definitely considering going for it because it's one of the high-end ones and I've been in the market for high-end cards recently.

Did a quick check on Newegg for the series and I'm not familiar with the differences between the company's so..

Budget is around $600, but I'd like to stay as low as possible. Again, I'm just looking and considering, not going to be purchasing straight off the bat

Here's the product search: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...on%20R9%20290X

Cheers
 
Majcric

Majcric

Golden Member
May 3, 2011
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Sapphire Tri-x or the XFX DD in the r290. I don't think the 290x is worth the extra cash.
 
Majcric

Majcric

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May 3, 2011
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The performance between the 290 and 290x is minimal. It's not worth the extra cash, IMHO.

just google 290x/290 reviews and see for yourself. :)
 
K

Kenmitch

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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ZGR said:
The performance difference between the R9 290 and R9 290x is not worth the price premium.

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1068?vs=1056
Click to expand...

Yep.

But if you insist on the 290x the price of the TriX seems reasonable after the current promo code. Includes the free game coupon also.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202079

toughtrasher said:
Hmm, thanks for that link. Checked out the bench and I agree.

Besides the Saphire Tri-x (main one I liked), are there any other suggestions? Cheers
Click to expand...

The PowerColor PCS+ or the Vapor-X but but the price gets too close to the TriX 290x to justify....Unless your into rebates.
 
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B

borderdeal

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Aug 4, 2013
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toughtrasher said:
Hmm, thanks for that link. Checked out the bench and I agree.

Besides the Saphire Tri-x (main one I liked), are there any other suggestions? Cheers
Click to expand...

I had this one for a few days and it is a great card but it is huge. It takes 3 slots

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131549

It comes factory OC and performs like a 290X pretty much or even a little bit faster. unfortunately my case prevented me from keeping it (it fits fine but the mobo is inverted 90 degrees and ended making the card too noisy for me)
 
P

p0rkguy

Member
Dec 2, 2012
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Sapphire Vapor-X 290 OC. It was ~$450 last week. It's $470 now. If it goes any lower than $440, that's the card I will jump on immediately. With AMD's "new flagship" coming out this summer, I wouldn't be surprised if it drops to $400.
 
N

NewYorksFinest

Senior member
Mar 27, 2014
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I would get the 290. The only difference between the 290 and 290X is the 290X is factory overclock. You can very well overclock the 290 itself.
 
RaistlinZ

RaistlinZ

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 2001
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^For $351 I'd just go for the R9 290. Nvidia has nothing that can match it at that price.
 
Shmee

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
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Sep 13, 2008
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NewYorksFinest said:
I would get the 290. The only difference between the 290 and 290X is the 290X is factory overclock. You can very well overclock the 290 itself.
Click to expand...

290x has additional Shaders. Still, clock per clock, its only like a 5% improvement worth.
 
3

3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
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I would get either the Sapphire 290 (non X as everyone else has said) Tri-X or Vapor-X. Also would consider the Powercolor PCS+ but only if it was an appreciably better deal (save $30 or more) than the 2 sapphires. After that the XFX Black edition DD. I wouldn't even consider one from the companies who make nVidia and AMD. Coolers made specifically for Hawaii perform better than the coolers that are designed for GK110 and pressed into service on AMD cards.
 
G

gammaray

Senior member
Jul 30, 2006
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i would get the card that gets the best FPS in the games i'm playing, whether it's nvidia or amd. Unless you find an incredible deal on either.
 
Essence_of_War

Essence_of_War

Platinum Member
Feb 21, 2013
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I'm not necessarily going to purchase an R9 graphics card at this moment, but I'm definitely considering going for it because it's one of the high-end ones and I've been in the market for high-end cards recently.
Click to expand...

What sort of games, and at what resolutions, are you playing at?
 
M

MtSeldon

Senior member
Jan 13, 2014
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Sapphire Tri-x , or if u can find at a good price Vapor-X seems to be best choice.

But the problem with R290/290X is that there seems to be a very high DOA rate. Since AMD didnt make any annocement about this, we dont have the exact info,but forums are full of people complaning about DOA, crashes, BSOD 's etc.
 
K

Kenmitch

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,505
2,250
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MtSeldon said:
Sapphire Tri-x , or if u can find at a good price Vapor-X seems to be best choice.

But the problem with R290/290X is that there seems to be a very high DOA rate. Since AMD didnt make any annocement about this, we dont have the exact info,but forums are full of people complaning about DOA, crashes, BSOD 's etc.
Click to expand...

High DOA rate? I'm sure that there is a certain percentage of cards that are truly DOA. On another note sometimes it's not the card but a persons rig, pilot error, or even heaven forbid the green team spreading fud.

From a single thread on overclockers uk forum

Hi guys I was wondering if somebody might be able to shed some light on my problem, my R9 290 turned up this afternoon (bought in the today only deal yesterday) but whenever I put the card in my PC it won't POST. I just get a black screen.

The monitor is not displaying the "no signal" message so I guess the outputs are doing something.

Anybody got any ideas?

Put my 7950 back in and it works fine.
Click to expand...
Same guy chimes back in after somebody suggest a MB bios update.
Problem resolved guys, just had to update my motherboard BIOS, which whist straightforward has lost my CPU OC settings
frown.gif
although I can now use my R9 290
smile.gif

This odd new BIOS won't let me adjust the CPU multiplier and I can't work out what I need to change, might just have to press the OC genie button and hope for the best.
Click to expand...
Not all hardware is compatible.
I agree - could not get a 290 to run stable in my Motherboard - Gigabyte confirmed that my MB doesn't support UEFI Bios only cards.
Click to expand...
Pilot error it looks like.
I had a work colleague who couldn't get his R9 290X working at all. New drivers, new Windows, different PSU, nothing worked.

In the end it turned out the problem was that he was not using the primary PCI-E slot.
Click to expand...
Flakey overclock? Maybe too much load on power supply rail?
I had an issue when I first installed my 290X where the pc would take 5 or 6 goes to power on before it would boot. Sometimes even longer, switching on and off trying to get it to boot. Once it booted and got into windows it was fine.

Even at stock had the same issue.

Was starting to think I may have to upgrade my Socket 1156 Gigabyte board but it turned out all I needed to do was increase the cpu voltage.

Once I did that problem sorted and am now overclocking up to what I was before with the 6870.

So that may help some running a 290X on an older setup.
Click to expand...
Just because it looks to be DOA at 1st glance doesn't mean it truly is.

I've owned a total of 3 290's and not one of them was DOA. 1st was a ref design which I only kept for about a month and then sold. I currently own a Tri-X and XFX DD which I've had zero issues with....Guess I'm lucky.
 
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