Read more.An attractive price point for a high-performance card.
Read more.An attractive price point for a high-performance card.
Did a build for my friend a few weeks ago and was debating which card to go for in the budget allocated and this popped up on overclockers for £199.99 which was a bargain! One of the quietest cards ive heard in awhile, didnt try the other fan modes but I only found the fans hovering at 45 - 55% on dying light and it was perfectly quiet which for me is quite an achievement as I have most of my rig under water because I hate most air coolers!
One thing to note is that this card is also LONGER than the stock sized 290, its may not fit some cases (i had to bend some parts to fit in a case...), probably like 1 inch longer.
Looks like a good deal for the price, the difference in price compared to the 970 is sufficiently high enough to make the difference in power consumption largely unimportant.
This is getting to tempting, replace 7950 now or wait and see what the 3xx series offers.
Either way I am not settling for less than 4gb on my next card, and 0.5gb tacked on in a useless manor to up the number doesn't count.
Think the 2.5 slot occupation is a bad too, at least I won't be able to install it on my micro-atx cube case.
Interesting that it's so chunky, and still so loud. It's thicker than the Sapphire card, and louder, while drawing less power.
I'm not entirely sure why the 970s and 980s compete against 970s and 980s, but the PowerColor 290 doesn't get to compete against 290(x)s, when there are other models reviewed.
Sapphire 290 tri-x review: http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphi...tri-x/?page=10
Come on AMD, when are you going to release the 380X and 390X?. That is what I really want to see. Apparently, AMD have advertised that if disgruntled GTX970 users return their gfx cards to Nvidia for a full refund, then AMD will give these chaps a brand 290/X at reduced cost. TBH, Nvidia lied about the Titan-Z when they advertised last year 'it is the fastest gaming gpu on the planet' but in reality, it got trounced by the 295X2 (which is still the fastest gpu). Now Nvidia have lied about the specs for the GTX970. Nvidia's dishonesty is coming through and they shot themselves in the foot.
I learned my lesson with the blower type designs in my Asus 5870 cards. I got 2 of them the v2 was the 2nd with locked v controls.
I still use them, great cards but even with my afterburner tweaked fan profiles i go nuts sometimes by that whoosh or roar that type of cooling system creates. In an high air flow case it is real apparent. I only see relief with an after-market cooling solution i experimented with. Not to provide better cooling, just remove all that noise .after 33% it is noisy. fine for under 50°C but over that and i really do need to allow for more fan speed. and, those Asus have only the one fan. with 3fans? no matter the price-a deal breaker for me. A fine card though i would like one with a different cooling method. Just my opinion. after 4 or more years, still have not warmed up to the sounds of my great preforming 5870s.
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