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Review: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X WindForce OC

by Parm Mann on 9 January 2014, 16:30

Tags: Gigabyte (TPE:2376), AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qab7gb

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Conclusion

Gigabyte's WindForce OC proves that the very best Radeon can be made to run cooler and faster, but more needs to be done to ramp-up retail availability...

A couple of years after the introduction of the GCN architecture, AMD triumphantly returned to the high-end graphics game with the launch of the hard-hitting Radeon R9 290X in October 2013. Offering excellent single-card performance, AMD's latest was able to mix-it-up with rival GeForce solutions of the time and, more importantly, stand out thanks to a competitive $549 MSRP.

We originally deemed the launch good news for the consumer looking for a high-quality card, but we erred on the side of caution by stating that we needed to see how far partners push the R9 290X before passing final judgement on just how good the Hawaii architecture can be.

Gigabyte's R9 290X WindForce OC is the first partner card to pass through the labs, and though performance, as expected, remains suitably strong, pricing for the custom-cooled behemoth is regrettably less keen.

Limited supply could be a contributing factor, but whatever the reason, US consumers can currently expect to pay a hefty $700 for Gigabyte's product. That's a far cry from the original $549 MSRP for reference cards, and performance enthusiasts will be well aware of the fact that the faster GeForce GTX 780 Ti is readily available for the same amount of money and includes free games.

The prolonged wait for custom R9 290X cards has, we feel, taken away some of the lustre surrounding AMD's finest GPU. Gigabyte's WindForce OC proves that the very best Radeon can be made to run cooler and faster, and the firm's triple-fan solution remains a safe bet, but more needs to be done to ramp-up retail availability and, in turn, push pricing back down to a more agreeable level.

The Good

Factory overclocked on core
Enthusiast-grade performance
Significantly cooler than reference
4GB buffer is handy at high resolutions

The Bad

Not much cheaper than GTX 780 Ti
Could have been quieter
No free games

HEXUS.where2buy

The Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X WindForce OC graphics card is available to order from Overclockers UK.

HEXUS.right2reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



HEXUS Forums :: 8 Comments

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I will say I have the windforce 7950 and the cooler is amazing, would interested to see how this would go on a 290.
Sorry , but even WITH the excellent cooler its not going to help since the price is overly inflated atm . Amd is going to keep shooting itself if does not get a handle on pricing and availability . By the time Amd does correct the situation it probably will be too little too late and they will have already lost their market share to the Ti (at the going price) .

*edited: Its a shame too , as I was (fairly) interested and willing to give Amd a nice try again (even at retail pricing) after years of Nvidia ; but not even going there with the current inflated market price . Guess I'll just keep my 780 for now .

Thx for the review Hexus.
This product is great, but i concern with the price..
To be honest, the most striking thing about this review and the included graphs is how close the Sapphire 290 Tri-X comes in terms of performance and for a fair bit less money. I'm sure the 290X will become a better and better deal as time rolls on, but for now there's no way I'd buy one. That 290 Tri-X however….
It looks to be a good cooler - one thing to note is, you don't really need to keep the R290/X at 75 degrees as it's designed to run in the 90s and the VRMS run cooler than the 79x0 series. I would use MSI Afterburner to create a custom fan profile to keep the card at about 80-85 degrees and lower the noise considerably. It suddenly becomes a winner on your benchmarks at 85 degrees and (my estimate) ~38db.

Be interesting if hexus could try it out and add it to the review!!