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Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC Review (1600p, Ultra HD 4K)

Today we slot the Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC into a series of tests we have ran on other cards over the last 2 weeks. We are using the latest AMD Catalyst 13.11 beta driver and the Nvidia ForceWare 331.82 driver.
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We are using one of our brand new test rigs supplied by PCSPECIALIST and built to our specifications. If you want to read more about this, or are interested in buying the same Kitguru Test Rig, check out our article with links on this page.
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We are featuring results today with an Apple 30 inch Cinema HD Display at 2560×1600 resolution and an Asus PQ321QE Ultra HD 4K screen running at 4K 3840 x 2160 resolution.

Room ambient was held at 23c throughout testing.

Comparison cards:
AMD R9 290X (1000mhz core / 1,250mhz memory)
AMD R9 290
(947mhz core / 1,250mhz memory)
Palit JetStream GTX780 Ti OC
(980mhz core / 1,750mhz memory)
Nvidia GTX780 Ti
(876mhz core / 1,750mhz memory)
Nvidia GTX Titan
(837mhz core / 1,502mhz memory)
Nvidia GTX780 (863mhz core / 1,502mhz memory)
MSI GTX780 Lightning (980mhz core / 1,502mhz memory)
Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X OC Edition (1000mhz / 1300 mhz memory)
Sapphire R9 280X Toxic Edition (1,150mhz core / 1,600mhz memory)
Palit GTX770 OC (1046mhz core / 1753mhz memory)

Software:
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
Unigine Valley Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
3DMark
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark

Games:

Sleeping Dogs
Total War: Rome 2
Dirt Showdown
Tomb Raider
Metro Last Light
GRID 2
Splinter Cell Blacklist
Batman Arkham Origins
Battlefield 4

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.

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9 comments

  1. Ordering one, but I doubt OCUK will get them in on the 27th, will be first week in 2014 I reckon.

  2. Good value really considering the price of GTX780 Ti, which ive seen for £650. AMD have the price right and finally the right card. two months after launch day though? what a complete fuc*ing mess they made of such a good card.

  3. About bloody time, longest wait for a fixed 290X ever.

  4. I have to ask, why the Titan is never overclocked in these tests ?

    Great card, a little power hungry but it’s worth it looking at these results.

  5. OC.uk actually have gigabyte R9 290X windforce in stock now….I bought one this morning….8 left.

  6. “At the price, none”. my first time seeing it. LOL. Nice card, really. Now if only it available in my country i will definitely buy it

  7. Well thats impressive by any stretch of the imagination. 27c cooler than AMDs part and no need to balance fan speeds against noise.

    Im tempted in January now, dont think OCUK will have stock in until the new year anyway

  8. I don’t understand whats with the fuss about the heat on R9 290/x cards. I have been using MSI OC Edition GTX 670 previously, and they run 97c most of the time while I do gaming. It’s not a big deal to me, as I understand that the cards has been designed to run hot because they eventually will with a load on them.

    I can understand the noise issue ONLY if you crank up the fan settings to 100%, but that won’t be necessary. I run the card, with custom fan profie from inside MSI after burner for 55% max fan speed, the card was quite to me. Maybe because of my big case, but really, I don’t see the what’s with the fuss all about.