R9 290 still a good buy?

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King of Heroes

[H]ard|Gawd
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My primary monitor is a 2560x1440 Korean model and its being driven by a GTX560Ti 448 core graphics card which is completely insufficient at driving that resolution while gaming (not without seriously knocking back the quality settings anyway). I really want to upgrade and, based on other discussion threads around here, it looks like the R9 290 is a quick and cheap upgrade from what I have now. Newegg has an MSI model for $250 after rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._mmc=EMC-GD032515-_-index-_-Item-_-14-127-774

Is this still a good deal? I know AMD's 300-series GPUs are around the corner but I'm thinking I don't want to bother waiting for that. Also, are there any other notable upgrade options at the $250 price?
 
At that price, it's a decent value. The MSI one has a well-reviewed cooling solution and the 300 series isn't going to be a quantum leap forward, it will be like when the R9 290X was released. The a modified 290X will remain as the second-tier card.
 
Of course the R9 290 card is still good and cheaper than other cards.Do not believe all the hype on the forums.Turn off the FPS counter and its the same as other cards out there.
Some testing in same machine.

R9 290 Crossfire run.
290.jpg

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/2833578

970 GTX SLI Gigabyte G1
970.jpg

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/5013822?

780Ti Sli run
780ti_firestrike.jpg

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1809031

Single R9 290

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1467959

Single 970GTX

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3926309

Single 780ti

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1813822
 
gerardfraser said:
Of course the R9 290 card is still good and cheaper than other cards.Do not believe all the hype on the forums.Turn off the FPS counter and its the same as other cards out there.
Some testing in same machine.

R9 290 Crossfire run.
290.jpg

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/2833578
Click to expand...

I used to have a 290 Crosfire setup and I was only able to get 17300 with a heavy overclock being under water, with a 4790k CPU @ 4.8. I dont know how youre able to achieve that speed, but I do know its a VERY heavy overclock, and likely custom voltage. Stock 290s are 13xxx at most. I dont believe its fair to show heavily overclocked cards.

Regardless, 290 cards are still very good, especially after all the price cuts. By now AMD has worked out all the drivers issues so you will be ok. R9 series launch was very rocky, BSOD was very frequent, and overall choppiness in general.
 
Yeah, if I was hell-bent on gaming at 1440p, and needed to spend no more than $250, the r9 290 is without equal.

Just be aware that it uses about 100w more than your existing card, and even more if you plan on overclocking. The basic models require both a a 6 and 8-pin PCIe power plug (300w peak), and the more exotic models require two 8-pin connectors (375w peak). Your card requires two 6-pin (225w).

Your 560 448 power:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_560_Ti_448_Cores_DirectCU_II/25.html

R9 290 overclocked by manufacturer power:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_560_Ti_448_Cores_DirectCU_II/25.html

Check to make sure your PSU has this level of load handling, as well as these connectors, since you don't have it listed ion your Sig.

YOU CANNOT EXPECT TO USE molex to PCIe adapters to power a 290-series card. At least the Core i3 you're using means the rest of your system doesn't draw much :D
 
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Should you really expect to power any card with molex adapters? It's not 2005 anymore. Go buy a $30 PSU and you're covered... Sheesh.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
Should you really expect to power any card with molex adapters? It's not 2005 anymore. Go buy a $30 PSU and you're covered... Sheesh.
Click to expand...

It's a little bit more expensive than $30 for a quality 500w or higher PSU that has 2 8-pin connectors. You're looking more in the $60-70 range before rebates, which change from one day to another. Don't cheap-out on those watts if you're actually going to use them:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182068

Also, if you don't mind waiting for a MIR, this one above is $40.

But we're not talking about breaking the bank here. Just pointing-out the fact that his target upgrade price of $250 may rise to somewhere above $300, and at that point the 970 comes into play. That uses the same or less power than his current card.
 
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defaultluser said:
Yeah, if I was hell-bent on gaming at 1440p, and needed to spend no more than $250, the r9 290 is without equal.

Just be aware that it uses about 100w more than your existing card, and even more if you plan on overclocking. The basic models require both a a 6 and 8-pin PCIe power plug (300w peak), and the more exotic models require two 8-pin connectors (375w peak). Your card requires two 6-pin (225w).

Your 560 448 power:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_560_Ti_448_Cores_DirectCU_II/25.html

R9 290 overclocked by manufacturer power:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_560_Ti_448_Cores_DirectCU_II/25.html

Check to make sure your PSU has this level of load handling, as well as these connectors, since you don't have it listed ion your Sig.

YOU CANNOT EXPECT TO USE molex to PCIe adapters to power a 290-series card. At least the Core i3 you're using means the rest of your system doesn't draw much :D
Click to expand...

I'm using a Corsair HX620 PSU (which has the native PCIe connectors), so I should be covered as far as power.
 
I'm looking to get out of my 560ti's as well. I keep playing the waiting game, kicking the can and now I'm ready. Not sure what I'll get though. But for $250 the R9 290 is a good card. Might even look in to an open box 970 for around $300.
 
King of Heroes said:
I'm using a Corsair HX620 PSU (which has the native PCIe connectors), so I should be covered as far as power.
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me, have at it :D The R9 290 is simply fantastic value if you don't care about power.

You'd be amazed how people will cheap-out on their PSU, and then have the gall to complain to us when they can't get these new monster cards working. So I was just covering all the bases.
 
defaultluser said:
YOU CANNOT EXPECT TO USE molex to PCIe adapters to power a 290-series card.
Click to expand...

I had a buddy come to me saying one of his +12v power wires burned all the way back to the PSU and melted a molex connector powering a GTX 770.

I was a bit confused at first, because I thought he was talking about a PCIe power connector. Nope, he used two PCIe to molex adapters and plugged them all into the same power wire coming out of the PSU. And for whatever reason, they also make 8 pin PCIe power connectors to molex connectors, which is a disaster waiting to happen.

He also had his hard drive and optical drive plugged into the same chain.

I had a good laugh and told him to toss all of those nasty adapters and get a new PSU since it'd be a pain to repair it.
 
King of Heroes said:
Aaaand ordered (this will be first non-Nvidia graphics card). Thanks for the feedback, everyone. :)
Click to expand...

I think you will like it. I have the 290x version and it is an excellent card. Runs cool and the MSI cooler is quiet.
 
King of Heroes said:
Aaaand ordered (this will be first non-Nvidia graphics card). Thanks for the feedback, everyone. :)
Click to expand...

You will love it. I had the 290x MSI Twin Frozr IV Gaming card and at 1175mhz with the MSI Afterburner power slider moved to max (+100mv) the card's chip never exceeded 78 celsius and the fans were very quiet. In addition the hottest VRM never hit 70 celsius in Unigine Heaven.

Excellent cooling solution all-round. You won't be disappointed unless it's defective.
 
I own 3 Sapphire Tri-X R9 290s (2 in CF below and the other in my 3770k rig) and love them. Very good overall card for 2560 x 1440, especially for the price. BTW, your PSU is fine.
 
I had tons of driver issues with my XFX 290 Double D, but you honestly can't beat it for price -- esp. these days. Truly a great card with little annoyances, as far as I'm concerned. The biggest reason I got rid of it for my 980 was power (ability to SLI on my 750W if I wanted to) and the increase in performance I got from the 980 for the modest amount paid over the sale price of my 290.

I think you're going to be very impressed with your purchase!

Capture_zps12tunyuu.jpg

Capture2_zpssbzzdt2i.jpg
 
I picked up one new in November (XFX Double Dissipation) for $239.99 without a rebate. I don't think I would consider any of them a "good buy" for more than that. Maybe be an unreasonable expectation on my part - but I'd try to hold out for no more than $260 before a rebate.
 
Jeffredo said:
I picked up one new in November (XFX Double Dissipation) for $239.99 without a rebate. I don't think I would consider any of them a "good buy" for more than that. Maybe be an unreasonable expectation on my part - but I'd try to hold out for no more than $260 before a rebate.
Click to expand...

How's that working out for you? Is it noisy?
 
Eradan said:
How's that working out for you? Is it noisy?
Click to expand...

I had an XFX 290 DD for about a year after I had to RMA my reference 290. It's an awesome card. VERY quiet and cooled the card to spec with relatively little effort. The noise itself was pleasant because of the larger fans. Plus it looks phenomenal.
 
The 290 came in last night. So far I'm very pleased with the performance boost, though I only had to time to try out Call of Duty: Ghosts (which I could only play at 720p with my old card) and Battlefield 3. Biggest and only complaint so far is that I lost the 96Hz refresh rate on my QNIX QX2710 monitor and I'm not sure how to get it back. I tried ToastyX's Custom Resolution Utility but that doesn't seem to have an affect (could it be because Windows now identifies my monitor as a "Generic PnP Monitor"?).
 
King of Heroes said:
The 290 came in last night. So far I'm very pleased with the performance boost, though I only had to time to try out Call of Duty: Ghosts (which I could only play at 720p with my old card) and Battlefield 3. Biggest and only complaint so far is that I lost the 96Hz refresh rate on my QNIX QX2710 monitor and I'm not sure how to get it back. I tried ToastyX's Custom Resolution Utility but that doesn't seem to have an affect (could it be because Windows now identifies my monitor as a "Generic PnP Monitor"?).
Click to expand...

Download the patcher from the link above first. Then CRU will work.
 
http://www.monitortests.com/cru-1.2.zip a bit newer version than one i been using since i bought my new monitor to get 75hz over 60hz but it will allow you any res and hz you want to pick if your mon can handle it
just click add automatic lcd standard and put the hz you want to use...reboot then all is good
Capture_zpsh8uja8ae.png
[/URL][/IMG]
but like tycoonheart said just use the patches if necessary
 
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gar818 said:
I wouldnt choose it over a gtx 970
Click to expand...

the troll is strong with this one.

lets see....
GTX 970 ~ $320-$380 MSRP~$350
OP asked about a $250 Radeon 290, and he bought it a WEEK before you posted.

Why did you post?
 
I wondered the same thing. Maybe he could explain exactly why the 970 is a better choice--not that it matters at this point.
 
forget hardware man, drivers and game support for R200 series is really bad at this time.

AMD has only released four WHQL drivers in the last 1 year and 7 months.
 
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TroyX said:
forget hardware man, drivers and game support for R200 series is really bad at this time.

I think AMD released only two WHQL drivers in the past 13 months.
Click to expand...

Excellent troll attack vector - even used old/stale payload. Good job!
 
TroyX said:
forget hardware man, drivers and game support for R200 series is really bad at this time.

AMD has only released four WHQL drivers in the last 1 year and 7 months.
Click to expand...

So, which problems exactly are you experiencing currently with your Radeon 290 series card, TroyX?
 
I'm looking at going AMD this round too... My GPU is in dire need of upgrade lol. Been running a BFGtech GTX 260 for awhile.

Friend sold me a 560 ti for cheap but just got like $160 in eBay bucks for free so I've been scoping out a R9 290.

Was looking at Sapphire but apparently they don't transfer warranties so probably gonna go with an MSI.

Not sure why those guys are saying 970 is that much better. Seems everywhere you go everyone knows the R9s are the best price:performance at this time.
 
TroyX said:
I edited that post, only 4 WHQL drivers in the last 1 year and 7 months, which is even worse then before the edit.

here is proof: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous?os=Windows 8.1 - 64


who's the troll now?
Click to expand...
I've owned AMD cards for nearly a decade and spend 90% of my time using "Beta" drivers, which are released frequently enough for me to not complain about.
As if Microsoft certification means anything to the end-user.

AMD has problems with their 'game-ready' drivers. When a new game launches, AMD needs to have a driver out in 24-48 hours at the most. Especially all these games that run so poorly on AMD hardware.

If you want to shit on AMD's driver issues, there are better routes to take than going after their WHQL releases.
 
iDShaDoW said:
I'm looking at going AMD this round too... My GPU is in dire need of upgrade lol. Been running a BFGtech GTX 260 for awhile.

Friend sold me a 560 ti for cheap but just got like $160 in eBay bucks for free so I've been scoping out a R9 290.

Was looking at Sapphire but apparently they don't transfer warranties so probably gonna go with an MSI.

Not sure why those guys are saying 970 is that much better. Seems everywhere you go everyone knows the R9s are the best price:performance at this time.
Click to expand...

Agreed. You get 90% the performance a 970 in most cases....but you can save up to $100, or even more (especially if you go the fleebay route). It's simply a case of how some people equate tangible aspects of the product to value.

From a pure FPS to $$$ ratio though, the 290 cannot be beaten and that's a fact - jack.
 
tycoonheart said:
Download the patcher from the link above first. Then CRU will work.
Click to expand...

Yup, this worked. Though now I'm getting some playback glitching from Media Player Classic w/ Kawaii Codec Pack while playing .mkv files. Not really a deal breaker though. Thanks!
 
DPI said:
Boom!

Seriously though, I don't think anyone that owns an AMD could say with a straight face that AMD's release track record with drivers has been "fine", if they're being very honest with themselves.
Click to expand...

But then you have to consider this: are these R9 series owners having any issues? I don't and neither do many others. Some do. Why is this? Maybe because we all do not play the same games. And keep in mind the lions share of the issues with these new games is CF and that number of users pales greatly in comparison to single GPU users. So one can not equate their issues, real or trolled, to every user.
 
durquavian said:
But then you have to consider this: are these R9 series owners having any issues? I don't and neither do many others. Some do. Why is this? Maybe because we all do not play the same games. And keep in mind the lions share of the issues with these new games is CF and that number of users pales greatly in comparison to single GPU users. So one can not equate their issues, real or trolled, to every user.
Click to expand...


That, and if you read a lot of the negative reviews for AMD hardware on Newegg or pleas for help in other forums, it's very evident that the people complaining about issues don't know what they're doing. Not saying that's the case for everyone or the AMD software is without flaws, but some people can't get out of their own way. That's why I'm interested in going Team Red with my next video card purchase...I want to see what it's like. It's been a long time since I owned an AMD/ATi product.
 
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