Talk me out of buying a 290x Lightning

MacLeod

MacLeod

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
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So Amazon has the MSI 290x Lightning for $350 shipped (Newegg does to but fuck them) with a $30 mail in rebate and I really want to buy it. I know the 970 is out and its all the rage but honestly all the coil whine hoopla has really turned me off to them. This Lightning has fascinated me since it came out last spring. I like the looks of it and I really like the idea that its built to the hilt with the absolute best components you can get. Out of the box the only thing faster than it is a GTX 980 in almost all benchmarks with the 780 Ti barely winning one here and there.

The heat shouldnt be an issue with the Tri-Frozr fans as most reviews show this thing to be running in the high 60's under load which is lower than my GTX 670 FTW! Power draw is a big negative I realize that but its a trade off I think I can live with especially considering its only ~50 watts more than my 670. Hell I can swap out one of my living room light bulbs with an LED version and make up the difference.

So yeah, why shouldnt I buy this thing? Its been in my cart all day but I cant pull the trigger on it. Its usually around $390 so thats a little easier to hold off on but $350 shipped with a $30 MIR for this much badassery is really really tempting me.
 
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OP, you're getting very near / equal of GTX 980 performance for ~$200+ less. I can't do anything but talk you into buying it because it's the best bang for the buck out there.

If i was a gamer, wanted a new card, had the cash, and wanted absolute best bang for the buck that would be all the impetuous i would need to pull the trigger. This make/model of 290X is about as premium as it gets.
 
atp1916 said:
OP, you're getting very near / equal of GTX 980 performance for ~$200+ less.

If i was a gamer, wanted a new card, had the cash, and wanted absolute best bang for the buck that would be all the impetuous i would need to pull the trigger. This make/model of 290X is about as premium as it gets.
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It's an OK deal. Pumps out tons of heat to room warming levels though and oc to oc is on par with a cooler and quieter Gtx 970 at 2560 resolutions or below (4k has widely known displayport issues with these cards, though considering steam survey shows 99.7 percent of users don't own one, that's not not a concern for most people). Just tempering expectations, since it's basically the same price as other competing cards are every day.

officer921 said:
It's an AMD. Don't do it.
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From personal experience I'd have to agree, having owned 290 series cards. The value proposition is really gone with the gtx 970 on the scene nowadays.
 
It's a three slot card
It's a three power connector card
It's a three fan card.

There are three points. Don't do it.
 
Darakian said:
It's a three slot card
It's a three power connector card
It's a three fan card.

There are three points. Don't do it.
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only the two 8-pin connections are required to power it, if I understand it correctly.
 
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all Titan Blacks and 295x2 8GB's. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep rocking AMD. How much you can take and keep water cooling those 290x's. That's how winning is done!”
-Rocky Balboa
 
NukeDukem said:
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all Titan Blacks and 295x2 8GB's. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep rocking AMD. How much you can take and keep water cooling those 290x's. That's how winning is done!”
-Rocky Balboa
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Epic. And awesome. Oh, and did I mention awesome already?
 
Talk you out of it? same price as 970, not all coil whine, theres two here that dont or has very low whine, titan/780 performance at stock, above 980/780Ti (stock) performance when oc'd.. better drivers will come out soon maybe(?), runs cool, runs low power, oc'd at 1500MHz on average 70C> 7800-8000 ram no voltage change and my place isnt even cold and thats gaming stable. I had an R9 290 and it was balls hot when oc'd yet alone playing a game on it while on air and oc'd........ uh MFAA? uh -10fps lost when using nvidia mode on amd cards while playing fc4? :p ...... uh new cards in a few months?

Talk you into it? AMD Catalyst Omega drivers? :p its a lightning/sexy looking card
 
of the reviews i've read, the prevailing sentiment is that it isn't the monster overclocker previous lightening cards have been. that said, from what i can tell its still the best overclocker among the other r9 290x cards not called the vapor-x. since i can't find the 4gb vapor-x anywhere on amazon, by default the lightening card is now the best overclocking 4gb 290x on that market. pull the trigger, it was going for $400 a few days ago.
 
Are coil whine on the maxwells still a problem? I haven't heard much from them lately.
 
chenw said:
Are coil whine on the maxwells still a problem? I haven't heard much from them lately.
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There never was any substantial number of them other than the usual batch of people who have issues with a new video card at random, really.
 
They are great R9 290x cards (and perfect for CrossFire considering that they will likely not throttle unless your case is poorly ventilated). When gaming the temp rarely goes above 65C and fan noise is low. Just make sure you have sufficient spacing between cards if you are planning to go CrossFire.

This was an upgrade from 2 Titans and I could not be happier considering the price paid (399$ CAD per cards). I'm still using the Titans in my secondary setup. 980 will perform better and be more efficient but it also retails for a lot more. If you do not need to buy now, maybe waiting for the new 390 or the 980 refresh would make more sense... Still the Lightning are great cards.
 
3 power connectors.

It was the reason I didn't buy one. CF would require 6 total power connectors. Lotta PSU's don't even have that capability or you'd be using molex connectors out the wazoo and they look ugly when the rest of your rigs cables are sleeved nicely.
 
delita said:
3 power connectors.

It was the reason I didn't buy one. CF would require 6 total power connectors. Lotta PSU's don't even have that capability or you'd be using molex connectors out the wazoo and they look ugly when the rest of your rigs cables are sleeved nicely.
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Only two are required. The 3rd one is only for extreme OC (or if you want the Triple load level indicator to stay red instead of changing color based on load). But the power consumption is quite high with this card compared to others 290X...
 
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The heat issue seems to only be a problem with reference or basic coolers. This Lightning, the Powercolor PCS+ and Sapphire Tri-X are all showing temps cooler than what GTX 600 and 700 cards run at. Like I said, reviews show this one running around 69C which is cooler than my 670 runs.

The power thing doesn't really scare me off either. 50 watts more than my 670 while gaming which is less than a light bulb. I have a super 750 watt power supply so that won't be an issue.

You guys suck at this. LOL! Think I'm gonna go ahead and get this beauty.

Looks like Im gonna have to buy off Newegg {puke}. Amazon would be $26 sale tax and no free games. Egg is no tax and 3 free games including Alien: Isolation.
 
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MacLeod said:
The heat issue seems to only be a problem with reference or basic coolers. This Lightning, the Powercolor PCS+ and Sapphire Tri-X are all showing temps cooler than what GTX 600 and 700 cards run at. Like I said, reviews show this one running around 69C which is cooler than my 670 runs.

The power thing doesn't really scare me off either. 50 watts more than my 670 while gaming which is less than a light bulb. I have a super 750 watt power supply so that won't be an issue.

You guys suck at this. LOL! Think I'm gonna go ahead and get this beauty.

Looks like Im gonna have to buy off Newegg {puke}. Amazon would be $26 sale tax and no free games. Egg is no tax and 3 free games including Alien: Isolation.
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You will not regret it! :D
 
Its done and on its way. I wonder why Amazon doesnt have the free games. Oh well, $26 in sales tax was just too much anyway. Now just gotta sit here and wait 3 days. Ugh I hate waiting.

Thanks for the input guys! Nobody that has actually bought one seems to regret it so that finally swayed me. Back to team red again. HAHA!
 
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Welcome to the club, I ordered one over the Weekends too. Thought long and hard about it and couldn't find a reason to logically buy a 970, and I even consider myself nvidia biased!

Anyways where are you seeing the rebate on Amazon? I think it's for Newegg only.
 
I been eyeing the card myself and even the 295X2 ..but I will wait for the 380X
 
Agenesis said:
Anyways where are you seeing the rebate on Amazon? I think it's for Newegg only.
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You know you're right. It's not on there. Guess I just assumed it was since it was on Egg. Oh well, I hate breaking my promise and buying from Egg again but that comes up to $55 price difference. Just hope it's not DOA so they can pull their "bent pins due to improper installation" bullshit again.

Anyways, time to start shopping for a 120Hz monitor. BenQ XL2720Z is calling me now! :D
 
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MacLeod said:
You know you're right. It's not on there. Guess I just assumed it was since it was on Egg. Oh well, I hate breaking my promise and buying from Egg again but that comes up to $55 price difference. Just hope it's not DOA so they can pull their "bent pins due to improper installation" bullshit again.

Anyways, time to start shopping for a 120Hz monitor. BenQ XL2720Z is calling me now! :D
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Where's your "talk me out of buying this monitor" thread? :D

I'd give it a couple of weeks to see if anything firm comes out about freesync. We are supposed to have reviews, at least.
 
Relayer said:
Where's your "talk me out of buying this monitor" thread? :D

I'd give it a couple of weeks to see if anything firm comes out about freesync. We are supposed to have reviews, at least.
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Oh itll be a couple months for that. Ill pay off this purchase (or try to) before I start looking for a new monitor. Probably be around February or so before Im ready to retire my beloved HP.
 
Im just waiting for MSI to have ther X390 Lightning comeout, that should be the right time the New Asus swift Rog FREESYNC and BenQ comes out with there AMD Hot Rod Monitors
1ms 2560x1440 144Hz all that stuff........

I almost got the Rog Swift monitor, not knowing it will not work right with AMD cards :)

MacLeod...your gonna Love that 290X you saw the back of the video card Beautifuly made Aluminum Back Plate with LEDS, flashing Blue leds are normal, the tech support MSI which is right down the street from my place is like perfect, just for asking a Question it should take 1 to 2 minutes on hold....all my video cards are MSI.
I have 7970Boosted Edition right now, It rocks for what I do........
I can tell you are AMD like me, you have Chosen The Best at the Best Possible Price....Job Well Done
 
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EagleOne said:
Im just waiting for MSI to have ther X390 Lightning comeout, that should be the right time the New Asus swift Rog FREESYNC and BenQ comes out with there AMD Hot Rod Monitors
1ms 2560x1440 144Hz all that stuff........

I almost got the Rog Swift monitor, not knowing it will not work right with AMD cards :)

MacLeod...your gonna Love that 290X you saw the back of the video card Beautifuly made Aluminum Back Plate with LEDS, flashing Blue leds are normal, the tech support MSI which is right down the street from my place is like perfect, just for asking a Question it should take 1 to 2 minutes on hold....all my video cards are MSI.
I have 7970Boosted Edition right now, It rocks for what I do........
I can tell you are AMD like me, you have Chosen The Best at the Best Possible Price....Job Well Done
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LOL thanks man. Always been an AMD fanboy, might as well go all out. MSI has really been impressing me lately with their products and their customer service. They've got a rep on Overclock3D that hangs out and answers questions and helps with RMA's and such. Gotta love that!
 
MacLeod said:
Oh itll be a couple months for that. Ill pay off this purchase (or try to) before I start looking for a new monitor. Probably be around February or so before Im ready to retire my beloved HP.
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Well, that was too easy. :)

Tgrove said:
As soon as you buy it amd will release new/better/cheaper/tech
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People who bought the 7990 when it was on a similar price sure didn't get surpassed perf/$ for a long time. I have a feeling this will work out the same. Especially since Hawaii supports AMD's complete feature set including the yet to be released FreeSync.
 
Tgrove said:
As soon as you buy it amd will release new/better/cheaper/tech
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Thats a rule I live by in this hobby. No matter how long you wait, no matter what strategy you work out, the instant you buy something, something newer, faster, better and maybe even cheaper will come out.

The GTX 770 came out about a month after I bought my GTX 670. LOL!!

I just buy what I want/need when I want/need it. This much GPU horsepower for $350 shipped with this top of the line build quality is too good to pass up and exactly what I want and need right now and its a great value. Its probably overkill right now for 1080 but the way new games are looking with Dragon Age Inquisition and Assassins Creed Unity barely playable on my 670 at max settings, that overkill will come in mighty handy in the next year or two. Hell it will come in handy now. Crysis 3 had to use FXAA and low Shadows to use Very High textures and Tomb Raider couldn't do TressFX with my 670 without dipping into the 20 FPS range. Metro 2033 will also surely benefit from the extra horsepower as well. I even had to turn down a couple things in Hitman Absolution which was weird.
 
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If you are willing to pay the price, there is never an overkill, heck maybe even in a few years time SLI'ed Titan Z or Xfired 295X might not drive games at 640x480...
 
MacLeod said:
Thats a rule I live by in this hobby. No matter how long you wait, no matter what strategy you work out, the instant you buy something, something newer, faster, better and maybe even cheaper will come out.

The GTX 770 came out about a month after I bought my GTX 670. LOL!!

I just buy what I want/need when I want/need it. This much GPU horsepower for $350 shipped with this top of the line build quality is too good to pass up and exactly what I want and need right now and its a great value. Its probably overkill right now for 1080 but the way new games are looking with Dragon Age Inquisition and Assassins Creed Unity barely playable on my 670 at max settings, that overkill will come in mighty handy in the next year or two. Hell it will come in handy now. Crysis 3 had to use FXAA and low Shadows to use Very High textures and Tomb Raider couldn't do TressFX with my 670 without dipping into the 20 FPS range. Metro 2033 will also surely benefit from the extra horsepower as well. I even had to turn down a couple things in Hitman Absolution which was weird.
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MacLeod
It's like devils temping you, do this, do that, dont do this, you have made the perfect decission....I went thru this with my 7970BE long ago....your right on schedule you should be getting the 290x today, you have made all the right choices.
the 290x will crush a 7970be....im waiting for the 390x that should be right next to the free-sync asus 27" monitor release 144hz 2560x1440 144ms all the good stuff....
here's my card rock solid for many many years, this was right before I installed my new EVGA 1600 watt Platinum PSU

kbx5dk.jpg
:)
 
With the new Omega driver out now, I'd say OP made a good choice
 
10 bucks says the 290X does its VSR better than the 970 does its DSR. hah
 
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