Question 1

Do the fans turn off at idle like the MSI Twin Frozr, for example? Trying to get an idea of noise when not gaming to decide between this and a GTX 970. Thanks!

Accepted Answer

With MSI Afterburner or TriXX, you can change the fans' speed depending on temperature, so if the card was running cooler when it is idle you can have the fan speed lower or off. But if you mean automatically, no it doesn't. With the program, you make a one-time setting that you can change whenever that customizes when the fans turn on and how fast they should spin depending on variables you choose. MSI Afterburner has more advanced settings, and TriXX is a bit simpler. TriXX is made specifically for this card, but Afterburner works with all cards I think (and also Afterburner doesn't crash as often as TriXX). Both programs are reliable enough and do basically the same thing. The card is quiet when you want it to be by the way, I very often hear my HDD over the card when idle.

Question 2

Would a 1200 watt power supply be strong enough to run 2 of these in crossfire?

Accepted Answer

Yes, in fact that's probably even overkill.  A 1000w PSU would most likely do it. I recommend putting your specs into PC Part Picker and checking the power consumption.

Question 3

Why is my system only recognizing 4mb when it is an 8mb card?  Do I need to configure a setting?

Accepted Answer

I get this too. It's probably because the software or game doesn't support/need 8 gigs. I can't think of many things that could possibly need that much, but rest assured it is there. No settings for it ( I know this because certain software does pick up all 8 gigs of VRAM). There are certain games or software that you need to tell you have 8 gigs (Like when I played Call of Duty Black Ops for the first time. It picked up no VRAM so I had to change the value in the INI file of the game) but when it says 4 gigs it's only because that's the maximum it expects and/or needs

Question 4

could i crossfire this with another 290x with 4gb vram?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but it would lower it to the lowest card. So it would  make it like it was just 2, 4 gb cards. It is not recommended at all cause it would be a waste, but still possible. Better and cheaper to get another 4gb or sell the 4gb and try for 2 , 8gb cards.

Question 5

it's hard to find reviews for this specific card and i was wondering what kind of frame rates i could expect from this running a 1440p monitor and modern games at max everything? 
any info would be awesome thanks.

Accepted Answer

At 1080P I am getting over 70 to 145 most of the time when in CrossFireX with two of them. Maxed out MSAA and all bells and whistles with Heaven.  At 1440 it should smooth like butter.

Question 6

I'm just wondering how well this card would work with the following setup:

Azza PSAZ-1000A14 Titan ATX Power Supply - 1000W, 80 Plus Bronze
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 6-Core 3.3GHz
ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 motherboard
Raidmax Smilodon case (I can remove the lower drive bay to fit the length)
16gb Corsair RAM (sorry, I forget the model #)

Would I have any concerns about the card working with that motherboard?

Accepted Answer

So long as you are certain you have the space in your case to fit the particularly long stock cooler this card has, and you have two pcie power cables free on your power supply to power the card, theb you are compatible. The only thing to take note of is that your motherboard has two pcie 2.0 x16 slots, not pcie 3.0 x16. There would be a small performance gain if you had pcie 3.0 x16 like this card supports, but as far as I know it is a very small difference that you probably are not concerned with.

Question 7

Is this HDMI 2.0?

Accepted Answer

The R9 290/290X GPU's do not have HDMI 2.0. The 970/980 GPU's from nVidia are the only ones that have it.

Question 8

is this card free sync  compatible?

Accepted Answer

Hi Charles, I haven't check on it because have no need for it. my monitor is a dell ultrasharp 24 inch  with 60 hz refresh rate. pc is down at the moment but video card works like a charm with latest beta driver.

Question 9

Hello, I am currently building my first rig and I was wondering whether a motherboard with 2 3.0 x16 ( Dual x8:X8) would run 2 of these cards?

Accepted Answer

yes it will aslong as the Mother board supports crossfire. and you have 2 3.0x16 slots then yes you can.. my motherboard has duel  2.0x16 slots and its running fine.. i am planning on changing my amd board out for a 3.0 at some point.. but yes it will work..

Question 10

I'm running on a 1600x900 resolution will I be able to max out GTA V with this card? and by Max out I mean actually maxing out the game, which means MSAA X8, all reflections, textures and all advanced graphics like long shadows and absolutely all the settings to the maximum they can be set.
Would I be able to get 60fps? or should I go with an nvidia card

Accepted Answer

yes, i am running 1900x 1080, and i can run current gen games on competly max with no lag, and my fp rates is the max for the game.. so you should be fine.. plus i do a lot of 3d work in 3ds max.. and rendering times are awsome.. so yes you you should beable to.. but at the same point if you do not have enough ram. that can slow some stuff down.. also, make sure your computer has a pci express 2.0 or 3.0 express 16 slot.. and it has enough room.. to fit the card..

Brand	SAPPHIRE
Model	100361-8GL

Chipset Manufacturer	AMD
GPU	Radeon R9 290X
Core Clock	1020MHz
Stream Processors	2816 Stream Processors

Effective Memory Clock	5500 MHz
Memory Size	8GB
Memory Interface	512-Bit
Memory Type	GDDR5

DirectX	DirectX 12
OpenGL	OpenGL 4.3

Multi-Monitor Support	4 x Maximum Display Monitor(s) support with 1 DisplayPort connected
HDMI	1 x HDMI (with 3D)
DisplayPort	1 x DisplayPort 1.2
DVI	2 x Dual-Link DVI-D

SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 290X 8GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 CrossFireX Support Graphics Card 100361-8GL

Learn more about the Sapphire Tech 100361-8GL

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Warranty, Returns, And Additional Information

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Manufacturer Contact Info

Eyefinity Support	Yes
CrossFireX Support	Yes
Cooler	Tri-X Cooling Technology
System Requirements	PCI Express based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard. Certified power supplies are recommended. Please refer to: http://support.amd.com/us/certified/power-supplies/Pages/listing.aspx 4096MBMinimum of system memory. Installation software requires CD-ROM drive. DVD playback requires DVD drive. Blu-ray / HD DVD playback requires Blu-ray / HD DVD drive. 750 Watt Power Supply is required. 2X150 Watt 8-pin PCI Express power connector is required. 4X150 Watt 8-pin PCI Express power connector is required for CrossFireX system. 64-bit operating system highly recommended A display with digital input (HDMI, DisplayPort or DVI) is required
Dual-Link DVI Supported	Yes

Form Factor & Dimensions
Card Dimensions (L x H)	12.01" x 4.45"
Slot Width	2.2 x slot

Item#: N82E16814202144