Pros: * Pretty quiet * Great build quality * Comes with backplate * Great 3 year warranty * Runs pretty cool for a R9 290

Cons: * Big * Fans get loud past 70% * Elpida memory

Overall Review: I purchased this card for my son to replace his aging EVGA 660ti 2GB. First thing you will notice is the card is big, so big in fact that it would not fit in my son's Antec 300 mid size gaming case. Shame on me for not double checking the interior dimensions of the case. So I got him a Antec P100 which the 290 fits in with room to spare. The build quality of the Asus is great. It is hefty and big, but everything exudes a feel and look of excellence. The cooler is large with fat heat pipes and works well. Playing Far Cry 4 on 1200p Ultra settings temps only reached 65-66C. When looping the Valley benchmark for 30 minutes, temps slowly rose to 74C when on a custom fan profile that had the fans at 65% at that temp. Once the fans get into the 70-75% speed range they do start to get a bit loud though, but at least it is not annoying or buzzy sounding, just the whoosh of fast moving air. It is possible that temps could be lowered slightly if I had turned up my case fans, but as it stands the temps are good. Overclocking was a pleasant surprise, for the core at least. On stock voltage the core reached 1125Mhz perfectly stable, more voltage allowed me to get to 1200Mhz, but generated more heat than I wanted. The memory, which is Elpida was not as fortunate, but still clocked to 5800Mhz, which is still acceptable. For reference, my ASIC score was 79.5%. At my 1125Mhz overclock there is absolutely no throttling present. Performance wise, it is a HUGE upgrade over the 660ti (which was overclocked to 1240Mhz on the core). In almost all test benchmarks, the frame rates doubled or more. The additional power allowed us to once again max out visual details in newer games at 1200p resolutions. Compared to my MSI GTX 970 Gaming, the 290 actually performed very closely. I was able to purchase the Asus DCII 290 for $220 after rebate on sale, at that price it really is a amazing deal. Up to $275 this card is a great option, however, if priced at $300, I believe that the GTX 970 is a better buy with better power consumption, less heat and better performance. So in the end, I think that the AsusDirectCU II OC R9 290 is a great graphics card and if you can find it for $250-275 or so (as of this writing anyway), it represents a excellent bargain. Above that however, start looking at the GTX 970.

Pros: QUIET, Cool, Great Performance. Isn't that what we all need from a Gaming card? I wonder what made me tolerate my old noisy card for so long before upgrading! Budget would not allow me to chase this card after I missed the initial launch rush. Then the crazy supply demand days, I passed on as well. Now that this special card is down to the best price/performance sweet spot AT LAST, why not jump in? The free games bundle is also pretty sweet. Nobody mentioned MANTLE on this card. The boost from choosing "Mantle" in BF4 or any other supported game is just like... MAGIC! Nothing else changed, just click on "Mantle", and bam! your frame rates get a big boost. Not 5% or 10%... you need to check out the online reviews or better still, get this card and experience it.

Cons: As mentioned elsewhere, the VRMs don't seem to be directly cooled, but as long as you make sure your case has enough ventilation, you should be fine. (See other thoughts)

Overall Review: Internal Case Temperature needs to be monitored for these types of "silent" cards. They do not vent out the back-plate like the reference blowers. You do need to ensure you have sufficient fresh air intake and vent the hot air fast enough to keep the internal temps sufficiently below your component operating temps. I guess this is MOST important if like me you are upgrading from a "Reference Blower" type design that ejects the hot air out the back-plate. This is usually an easy $5 fix! Throw in an additional case fan with your purchase. Most gaming cases have blank spots for adding fans. Decide if you need more intake or exhaust, and align your fan accordingly. Another thing I noticed in my upgrade cycle, it was time to upgrade my Power Supply to keep up with the quality components. Good power cannot be underemphasized if you want reliability and performance. These things also do degrade over time. I think it is the capacitors that gradually die, like fluorescent bulbs that get to 50% output after 5 years...

Pros: Was worried that the card would be hot and loud but it never gets above 75 degrees in my case and runs quiet. I play all new AAA games on ultra and its eats them for lunch. Huge upgrade from my 7850, can destroy any game under 1440p resolution. Get a graphics score of 11000 on firestrike with omega drivers stock. Much better bang for your buck than the 3.5 gb gtx 970, got mine on sale for 240 after rebate. Was able to overclock to 1150 mhz no problem.

Cons: Its not nvidia so you will be looked down upon by the masses and people who don't understand the basic concept of value or performance per dollar.

Overall Review: Its directx 12 compatible so it will be very future proof with next gen.

Pros: This is an absolute monster. Without even overclocking it chomps at anything you throw at it without spitting out the bones! Its a beast! Battlefield 4 on ultra running beyond 60p? Num num num. Star Citizen alpha on very high? Buuurp!

Cons: None with card itself but do consider the the width of your case. The card is as expected heavily armored with scales, battle scars, protruding bones and the blood of all its victims! But mostly bulky.

Overall Review: The card's self monitoring and overclocking desktop suite is very convenient, Even comes with its own built-ni video capture capability. Again convenient.

Pros: SEE OTHER THOUGHTS BEFORE ATTEMPTING!!! Since this card has two bios chips available and is flashable, I went ahead and rolled the dice to see if I could flash it with a 290x bios. I was able to unlock mine with the ASUS 290x DCIIOC bios and leave the clocks at 1050MHz core and 1250MHz memory while leaving the voltage alone! Upon doing so, the screen flicker I was having with the updated ASUS 290 DCIIOC (non-x) bios is gone! I have left the second bios on the card alone so I can always go back to the 290 if I wish to lower power consumption or have any issues in the future with the 290x bios.

Cons: Power draw vs NVidia 970 for similar performace. Screen flicker when using the original or updated ASUS 290 DCIIOC bios.

Overall Review: Doing this WILL VOID YOUR WARRENTY, and YOU are responsible if it bricks your card or destroys anything else. There are VERY specific conditions that must be met before even attempting a bios flash. Follow the directions at overclock.net (google "how to unlock a radeon r9 290" and get the asus 290x DCIIOC bios from techpowerup.com. Also note that the power draw will increase by 40watts at idle and about 70watts at full load vs the stock 290 bios so make sure your power supply can handle the added stress.

Pros: Love this card so much ordered 2 more for my wife and son. What a huge upgrade for the price. Love Asus products, and this one continues their tradition of solid craftsmanship coupled with competitive pricing.

Cons: It won't open my beer. Come on Asus when will you add a bottle opener to your video cards.

Overall Review: See you in a few years Asus when it's time to upgrade again.

Pros: Great card. Runs smooth and beautiful. Gaming and encoding much faster

Cons: Does not do the 4096 x 2160 advertised. It stll does 3200x1800 though. Also no documentation to speak of. This is why 4 eggs instead of 5

Overall Review: Thinking about buying a second card and see how it runs

Pros: - Can run everything on max settings without so much as a hiccup - Runs consistently cool (I've never gone over 67C - Runs consistently smoothly with FPS no lower than 30 at any point, and usually at 60+ - Cost effective (I've run this card doing CoD, Witcher 2, Crysis 2/3, MKX, Alien: Isolation, all at max settings without a flaw)

Cons: - Software issues can tank the entire experience (See my Other Thoughts) - BSOD (See my Other Thoughts)

Overall Review: Here's my rig: AMD FX 8350 ASUS M5A 99FX PRO 2.0 Motherboard Ripjaws 16GB 1866 Samsung SSD 850 EVO x2 for 750GB ASUS R9 290 GPU EVGA 800W Gold Certified Modular PSU The first time I got this card, I had everything set up, installed all software for MB, GPU, etc and latest drivers, and would consistently get black screens and force shutdowns/reboots. I had to go back to 13.x drivers to be able to successfully run, and later found that I could install the most up to date omega beta's, however could NOT install CCC or any other similar software (i.e. afterburner, Radeon PRO, etc) without getting black screens. I spoke with ASUS tech support, who stated they have never heard of this issue, despite many reviews stating BSODs. I RMA'd the card with Newegg, and took a different approach. I installed the newest catalyst package with drivers from AMD, and then ran 3DMark and gamed for several hours with no issues at all and flawless performance. I then installed my MB software from ASUS to do monitoring, OC, etc, and the BSOD's returned. I uninstalled the MB software, and all is well. So bottom line is that all of these BSOD complaints may actually be software related. Now, I understand this issue shouldn't be happening regardless, but the performance of this card is so incredibly good, and the software benefit from this stuff is so marginal, I think its a no brainer. If you're having BSODs, try uninstalling any extraneous software you have and starting from scratch with your GPU, might work! But this is a phenomenal card.