Matrix R9 290X worth it?

[tinytomlogan]

Good card but needs a proper water to shine.

Technically its the fan on the rad - if you connect it to the mobo or change the fan and connect it to a fan controller or something increasing the fan RPM's makes a massive difference.

It is a hot cookie if you just plug and play though which for the money isnt exactly great

 

[Pogal_31]

Yep Tom this is the next purchase planned along with some more SSD, but it'll have to wait a little, got trouble this morning installing my old Matrix R9 280X in my wife's rig, the gpu had broke, don't understand, big coil whine then I shut down the computer, it will never start again. Took the cooler off to see the problem, the chip just looks like a broken glass.... Have ordered a Strix 960 for my wife though, regarding your review of it she shouldn't be disappointed ^^

 

[Dicehunter]

Technically its the fan on the rad - if you connect it to the mobo or change the fan and connect it to a fan controller or something increasing the fan RPM's makes a massive difference.

It is a hot cookie if you just plug and play though which for the money isnt exactly great

Yeah I connected a Corsair SP120 Performance Edition to the rad and controlled it via the mobo and it did help a little but when I had the 295X2 my ambient was sky high so even upping the fan RPM didn't do the trick ergo I'd get thermal throttling and notice some stuttering in games due to clocks lowering etc...

Next time I get a dual GPU card I'll just throw a proper water block on it

 

[barnsley]

Now its £500 it would have been a very good bet against a 980. Heck, even some blocks seem to be going down in price for it too. I'd know what I'd go for.

 

[Pogal_31]

To be honest I've been hesitating a long time between both, the 295 is much more powerful but since the launch of 290x i ve been hating this card, dont know why but in my head it has mostly been " yeah I could go for it if the 300 are not coming soon cause there are not many choices ". As I said before, I've been exclusively getting AMD cards until now, perhaps choosing the 980 is à way to see something else... Anyway I'm more than happy with it and its performance, I don't regret my choice cause it handles everything easily on the vg248.

 

[Dicehunter]

To be honest I've been hesitating a long time between both, the 295 is much more powerful but since the launch of 290x i ve been hating this card, dont know why but in my head it has mostly been " yeah I could go for it if the 300 are not coming soon cause there are not many choices ". As I said before, I've been exclusively getting AMD cards until now, perhaps choosing the 980 is à way to see something else... Anyway I'm more than happy with it and its performance, I don't regret my choice cause it handles everything easily on the vg248.

Get some Nvidia titles like the Batman Arkham series for some lovely Nvidia effects like the maximum Physx setting, The Assassins Creed *Black Flag in particular* series for some TXAA and Physx goodness, Watch_Dogs for HBAO+ and TXAA, They all look lush !!!