Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X 4GB VS. R9 290X Reference

hey guys,

I just wanted to build a new system for the new gen. but the money I can spend is limited. first I wanted to buy a R9 290X non-reference. but the price is too high for me. specially in the country I live.

someone advised me to go for a Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X 4GB. he told me that it's a really good GC with the power of a R9 290X Reference with much lesser price.

so what do you think? is that correct? is there a huge difference between these two? is R9 290 Tri-X even a good card to play new gen's games with the highest quality for at least next 3 years?

Just for clarification, non-ref and ref cards are identical except for the cooling. They are exactly the same, if its cheaper, get it quickly, non-ref cards are meant to be pricier as the cooling is better.

Get R9 290 or GTX780 whatever is cheaper, you can pick up Gigabyte Windforce is pretty cheap, MSI TWIN FROZR, Sapphire Vapor-X or even Asus DirectCU II,

Sapphire's Tri-X is their top of the line GPUs/cooling system so yes it'll be much pricier.

@princeev: You might be better off trying to find a used R9 290 as a lot of the first batches you could flash up to a 290X.

thank you guys.

so, just another question:

is the difference between a R9 290 and a R9 290x is like the differences between a 5850 vs 5870 or 7970 vs 7950? does it worth to spend more 100$ for a 290X or the difference is all about 4-5 frames more?

DIdn't AMD lasercut the cores from their GPUs, after the mass conversions of 6950 to 6970? :O

@princeev: If you think that R9 290X reference is faster than a R9 290 non-reference, then you are wrong.

Stay away from any reference R9 290 and R9 290X.... Go for a non-reference model.

At the moment Gigabyte, has great offers at their Windforce models at $359 for R9 290 and $489 for R9 290X.

Sapphire has a great non-reference model too.

You really can't go wrong with any reference R9 290 model.

Just be sure to have a good PSU to power it.

edit: I just saw your question, it wasn't here when I started the reply.

In my opinion R9 290X doesn't worth over R9 290.

You will get 10% maximum performance for more than $100? No thank you...

Great info @Coseniath. I really appreciate it.

so I think Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X is the best choice if you guys don't have any other advises to add. I just hope it won't disappoint me. i really need something good for games like the Witcher 3 and AC4

Best choice? not really, if you have those spare 50$ compared to the other solutions then yes. (http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=152&m=8,18,27,41&sort=a8)

Go for the Tri-X

Non-ref anything, ref = jet engines during gaming.

Depending on how long you plan to keep the card, I'd also look at warranties.