I was all set on buying a GTX970, but after reading all of the horror stories of coil whine i wasn't gonna take that risk, I've had that in the past on a top end Gigabyte Motherboard few years back and wasn't going to put up with it again. So opted for the Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC instead, to replace my trusty 7950 which has served me well for the past 2 years. One question i want to ask is how much quicker is the 970 over the 290?, I only play games at 1080p 60hz atm.
As a fellow 290x owner I would have pointed you towards the 970. It's only been really usable in the last few weeks since I put the latest drivers on. Basically it has taken AMD a year to resolve the black/red screen of death. My next card will be Nvidia
I would have loved to gone over to nVidia again, my card before the 7950 was the GTX480 with custom fan, but i really can't stand coil whine so wasn't taking the risk.
Personally I think you're crack-pipe crazy. The coil whine thing got blown WAY out of proportion. In the short time I've had mine I've only once experienced coil whine and that was on the exit screen on Heaven, a static screen which is probably being pushed out at over 10,000 fps. That would cause coil whine on a jelly baby. Right now you might not notice too much of a difference, it's 5-10 fps apart from bioshock where it's 30. But that's on release drivers so the gap is only going to increase as they mature. Having said that, if your happy with the performance you have for the price you paid, that's all that really matters.
Sorry, but in the era of current consumer rights where you under distance selling regulations you can return items for full refund i don't get your point. You get the card, test it for coil whine, if it is has it under normal use, then you return it under the DSR for full refund and buy a different model, repeat until you get a non-whining card. Problem solved.
I paid a good 20 -25% less for my 290 than I could pick up a 970 for last week. Love it so far, latest drivers haven't given me a problem so prob the best time to hop onboard.
Honestly, what's the issue with coil whine? Turn on vSync or turn up your speakers/headphones. You all moan too much! As above, at least you got an extra heater in the room for when the days get really cold. Also, if coil whine is THAT much of an issue, then you could get a GALAX card where OcUK guarantee you a full refund if ANY coil whine happens. Don't believe me? Look at GALAX GPUs and read the print at the bottom of the page. *cough* linky *cough*
Vsync of some kind is the way forward. I've never had coil whine on my EVGA 970. I honestly don't get why people would let their graphics cards run FPS to 9000 FPS, what's the point?
I disable VSYNC to get rid of the input lag. I've got a 144hz screen, and with VSYNC on, i'm getting definite input delay (Mouse feels like its on jelly or ice) and it really fudges my gunplay. That's with Trip Buff disabled, with it enabled I might as well be playing an Onlive game. (SLI 770s)
You can't do that any more, DSR is gone. They can withhold part of the refund if they choose to, iirc somewhere was choosing to withhold 25%. Edit: around 12% faster on average at 1080, going with the fact that, since the asus 290 falls between the 290 and 290x for performance. TPU actually had the Vapor-x 290 matching stock 290x for speed. Maybe it uses a more agressive overclock. Your card is fine, enjoy it
Well that is sad for you in UK then. Here in Slovakia we got a 14 day period, where you can return the item and you get a full refund, including the delivery costs.
Both of my GTX780Ti's have Coil Whine, and when gaming I don't hear it as I use a headset and when benchmarking I don't hear it, because I crank the fans up. As long as Coil Whine isn't damaging the cards then I am not to worried about it, but the next cards I buy if they have it then I will get rid and try some new ones to find some without it.
You're right that DSR are gone, but the protections are now granted (and extended) under Consumer Contracts Regulations in line with Europe. This grants people a 14-day cooling off period, with unconditional right to cancel. So no idea why that retailer has claimed 25% of the refund as this violates the regulations. In fact businesses now have to give the refund within 14 days of the receiving the returned goods, which is not something they had to before. Read more here: http://www.theguardian.com/media-ne...14/jan/27/retail-eu-consumer-rights-directive And here: http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-contracts-regulations
I was going to say that things changed under CCR, and that it now included this: However, when looking at the more official PDF, there is an extra bit of information which CAB didn't mention - at least I didn't see it any where. But then there's part 12 So I suppose it comes down to, would they all you to test something before purchase in a shop to make sure it works. Where's Blogins when you need him?
I don't get the space heater comments? unless your all saying he avoided that by getting the direct cu cooled R9?? http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/03/03/asus-radeon-r9-290-directcu-ii-oc-review/8 seems rather cool running - as for horrific power consumption , is 90watts difference at max load between the 2 (290 and 970) to even register for a viable charge that's 10 hours at max load for 15p 100 hours at max load if £1.50 1000 hours at max load is £15 (that's 41 days at max load) your aguement about cost and heat are invalid.
Meh people like to be happy with their corner which is fine. One of my fave cards was a 480GTX. But reviews made out they set houses on fire. All silly.
