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The graphics market is very competitive in 2014, and it takes something really special for the discerning enthusiast user to stand up and take notice. Club3D may not be a name you immediately associate with a high end graphics card, but the R9 290X RoyalAce deserves some attention.
First impressions are positive, because while the box artwork may be rather bland, the card itself inside is exceptionally well made and eyecatching.
The matt black ‘Coolstream' cooler is extremely attractive and looks much nicer than many of the bright, glossy coolers we have looked at in recent months. The three fan implementation is well thought out and the inclusion of a custom backplate will prove popular with the audience who like to modify their system builds, and expose the hardware under LED lighting.
Under load this cooler isn't the quietest we have analysed, however in regards to cooling proficiency it does rate very closely against the class leading TriX cooler from Sapphire. That said, the VRM temperatures on the Sapphire TriX AMD cards are better due to the enhanced cooling the company implement onto the PCB itself. That said, the triple fan Club3D cooler is still one of the best we have tested in recent months.
Club3D supply their R9 290X RoyalAce in a positive state of overclock – running at 1,050mhz ‘out of the box'. We measured between 5 and 6 percent additional headroom on the core, when we overclocked with Catalyst Control Center. This might not sound like a huge amount, but this helped improve performance of the R9 290X so it would score slightly more than the default clocked Palit GTX780 Ti Jetstream.
If you are in the market for a new high end AMD graphics solution and want a card that looks fantastic when exposed under a windowed side panel and LED lighting, then the Club3D R9 290X RoyalAce deserves some serious consideration. It can't quite match the latest Sapphire Vapor-X solutions, but we do like the cooler design and the fancy custom PCB backplate design really does catch the eye.
You can buy from CCL in the UK for £434 inc vat
Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.
Pros:
- matt black triple fan cooler looks fantastic.
- massive airflow.
- runs cool at all times.
- can overclock to 1,100mhz+ core speeds.
Cons:
- Not the quietest card under load.
- limited availability in UK.
- 308mm long.
Kitguru says: A great looking high end solution equipped with a powerful ‘Coolstream' cooling system, hard to find, but worth looking out.
this is a great looking video card, I wish more makers would use backplates, its the part you look at when the card is installed and so many makers just leave it naked and ugly.
We cant get club3d here, or powercolor. so im limited in my choices.
I have had a Club3d card for years and they are very well made. They don’t get any exposure, so I was excited to see a review on one of my favourite review sites today. Bit out of my price bracket, but are they getting a UK deal with OCUK or something? no stock anywhere….
Is this a dual slot or triple slot gfx card?.
Shall I go for this beastly 290X or a 970GTX?.
I am looking for best bang for buck.
Thanks.