XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Double Dissipation Edition Video Card R9-290A-EDFD

Pros: Runs cooler than other cards from the same r9-290 series

Cons: Doesn't run as cool as I would want it to be. I wish warranty wouldn't be voided if I were to replace the thermal paste.

Pros: I have spent a ton of time playing with setting for both mining and gaming. The one thing that I realized early on is that this card is superior to the reference design. The DD cooler works great. XFX lowered the voltages supplied by the regulators a bit, but the cooling solution keeps them MUCH cooler than the reference cooler. It is also pretty quiet at 100%, I was able to achieve 90 to 120 FPS with Mantle and 60-90 FPS in DX11.1 playing BF4 (1080p). Overclocking was great with this particular card. I am running 1100 (GPU) x 1400 (5600 memory) clocks. Reference speeds the temp runs 78-85 in my case. Mining with the drivers I am using is not so great KHs (755) but the cards with the right setting can really tear it up with minimul errors and run at 85 degrees (single card) Well dedigned card overall with high quality components and classy looks. No need to buy a 290X Audio over HDMI is greatly improved over my 7850 it replaced.

Cons: With this card putting out 250 - 350 watts of power you not only need a 750 watt PS but very good case cooling if you expect to push this card overclocking. Don't even think about runing 2 of these in a case, they just generate too much heat. I tried to and even with all my efforts and advanced fans and control, I had to underclock the cards to keep things under control for gaming. Mining is another story. In an enclosed case the the top card always ran 4-6 degrees hotter and would end up throttling at 95 deg. So I can only recommend open air for mining, and I think there are better cards out there for mining.

Overall Review: Both Nvidia and AMD need to get in gear and get the 20nm dies going soon, AMD is running pretty dang hot. I have no idea what they were thinking putting the squirlcage fans on these cards (reference) XFX has redeemed AMD with a well designed card. Now AMD needs to get Mantle upto speed. Honestly, if you are not afraid to watercool, then go that way for these cards, especially if you want to run more than one.

Pros: Runs cool, I have a Full case (Thor v2) Runs 4 fans, 3x 230 mm and 1x 140 fan. Idle, then card runs 35C (case fans set to low) Idle card runs 31-32C (case fans set to high) While gaming card never topped 67C. Runs any game at ultra except ASC4 (Horrible port) ASC4 at 1080p, max everything about 21 fps.

Cons: Large, useless logo that glows (faces downwards) No Bf4, no back plate, no real large cons.

Overall Review: Great card, not worth $580, $499.99 would be reasonable, the card does look great though.

Pros: Card is a great value which is why I chose it. Card had issues but XFX replaced it (see explanation below).

Cons: The first card I received suffered from a black screen issue which is apparently common with AMDs R9 cards. I could perform all normal PC tasks with no issues, but gaming would crash to a black screen within a few minutes. After much troubleshooting and googling etc, I eventually RMA'd the card to XFX. Not only did they replace my card, they sent me an 290X instead. The 290X is working flawlessly and I was very pleased with XFX's decision to stand behind their product. If you experience a similar issue I highly recommend that you dont waste your time trying to fix the card, just RMA it!

Pros: Best bang for the buck in terms of raw power. You just can't beat it at 250$. Overall very pleased even with the included cons.

Cons: 1- Fan becomes very whiny at above 70% fan speed. 2- There is a common issue with R9 290s in general. For some reason some of these cards reboot your PC randomly. After a lot of digging around in forums the problem was traced to the base 2D core clock. Basically when the computer is idling or under low load the GPU decreases the core clock to an extent that causes the PC to reboot for some strange reason. Remedy: use Asus GPU tweak to increase 2D clocks to 430MHz. This completely solves the issue. For further details look up "R9 290 random reboot".

Pros: The pros are obvious, 4gb gddr5 ram 512 bit bus!!! (Jaw drop) 2560 Stream processors. Comparable performance to the gtx 970 and r9 290x for a good penny cheaper (I got mine for 269). One of the most beautiful cards I have worked with. I like the light up logo even though I need to take off my side panel to stare at it lol. Catalyst omega is nice, I am having a bit of fun playing with vsr (virtual super resolution). This is my.... 6th and final xfx card I have had the pleasure of working with in the year of 2014. I have worked with 2 r7 240s 1 280 1 270x black edition (which this replaced) and 1 7870. All of them have been beautifully made cards, and I love xfx. This card will max out any game at 1080p and it will hold its own at 1440p for most games at max settings. 4k is do able too however you will be limited to 30 fps on its hdmi rev 1.4 port.

Cons: Very power hungry. You will want a solid well regarded 630 psu or better with this sucker if you are on a multi rail psu dont try and power all the connections with it on one. If you are on a single rail psu you need at least 48 amps on it. 80+ bronze is a must, but higher is better. She is fairly long but you know that heading in be sure to pre measure your case. I fit it in my rosewill challenger with some effort. In the future I would like to see xfx make a light up logo on the side of the card would be a bit easier to see haha.

Overall Review: Please read this part: The 290 and up are enthusiast grade cards. They are not something to just grab and go with. When installing these, be sure to get the latest drivers from online. If you are upgrading from a previous graphics card (in my case I was coming from a 270x/7870) You NEED to do a clean uninstall of previous drivers, and this should be done BEFORE you insert this puppy. This is done by going into control panel and finding everything that says amd vision, catalyst control center etc and uninstalling it. If you can find anything in the control panel related to graphics drivers rinse and repeat. Once the drivers are removed, power down pc insert gpu. It should boot up just fine provided you have a compatiable mobo/chipset I have heard certain older intel chipsets simply will not POST with this card. From here install the recently downloaded drivers from amd. although the download step can be done at anytime ;) Failure to do this properly may result in the infamous BLACK SCREEN OF DEATH that is associated with the 290s. My build: Fx 8320 I have overclocked it to 4.3 ghz in the past but currently running it at stock as I dont really have a need for it to be faster and I want to take it easier on my psu r9 290 running stock 2x4 gigs 1600 mhz cl 9 g skill ram Cooler Master hyper t4 cpu cooler Gigabyte 990fx ud3 mobo 1 tb WD blue 256 gb Samsung evo ssd Rosewill Challenger mid atx case XFX 650 watt pro psu 80+ bronze. I am 3 for 3 with these so far, and I know I am pushing its limit with my build. I have seen up to 480 pulled from the wall so far. If it goes out I will likely go to either 750 or 850 watts. Windows 8.1 64 bit home premium I was following the pricing of this card since may of 2014 when it was about 500 now it is down to 300-280 on average if it is above 300 I would say it is not worth it due to how much more effiecient the gtx 970 is. I would also advise if you are already on a fairly high performance card to wait until feb when the r9 300 series gpus drop.

Pros: I would like to correct a grievous error. When I wrote my previous review of this video card I was angry and frustrated after spending so much money on it. I've since come to the realization that the problem was not with the video card but with my motherboard. I've had two motherboards' PCI Express 3.0 x16 video card Expansion Slots fail in less than a year. Now that I have this card installed on a quality motherboard it runs like a champ. I'm playing games with all the settings at max and the dual fans on this card just barely speed up. I'm so happy with it.

Cons: absolutely none

Overall Review: Learn form my mistake and get a good quality gaming motherboard to mount this in. You will save yourself a lot of grief.

Pros: This card is phenomenal w/software adjustments (see cons below). Switched from an Nvidia based card (good card) to the R9 290. I play a lot of Final Fantasy 14; if you spend time in the city states, specifically Mor Dhona, often times you'll hear people complain of FPS issues. Usually they hover somewhere around 30-40 FPS. This card coupled with an Intel 4790K running at stock speeds places my FPS at 85+. A very very nice improvement. I really like the white glow effect however it's hard to enjoy it while the card is upside down in the case :/ You will need a nearly fullsize case or a larger than average midtower in order to fit this card. It's massive. Also, your PSU will need to have the 6+2 and a 6 pin VGA connector. DO NOT use an older PSU and attempt to configure a cable to run this card. First, you WILL experience freezing and second you will likely burn up the PSU. I recommend a PSU Bronze certified rated at minimum 650 ideally 700 watts. If you truly want the best performance then pair this with a newer chip such as the 4790K or 8350 from AMD.

Cons: Here is, in my opinion, worth dropping an egg. The software. AMD what are you doing? The idea of a lower power state is great for eco reasons but come on! This feature causes the card to constantly throttle and therefore freeze before crashing FFXIV. The fix for this was to use the newest, non beta driver and uninstalling Catalyst Control Center. You'll need to find a specific program by MSI which will allow you to adjust 2 specific features. I can't/won't link anything here but this has been a good fix for a number of R9 owners 280/290 alike.

Overall Review: This card continues to drop in price. I love XFX products and customer service. I would wait for this card to be on discount and/or rebate but you can't go wrong with XFX. Hopefully, they can work with AMD on these freezing issues. I'm tired of hearing that it could be the mobo or PSU etc. Guys, it's not. We all build computers and there are a lot of us telling you there is a software issue. Please fix it.....