R9 290 non reference

FetKey

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
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So, I'm in the process of choosing parts for a nice mini itx build that can max out most games.
I was wondering if I should wait for the non reference r9 290's?
Does anyone know when we will be seeing some come on the market?
Thanks.
 

Sounds great!
what do you think of this potential build with the r9 290?
http://puu.sh/5aAL6.png

 
Check the Silverstone Sugo SG09 for a small case, as you can also fin an mATX in it, and with just 2 added fans on the case, you can crossfire.
I am also holding my purchase of an R9 280x in the hope for a non-reference R9 290 non-x.

So just hang in there, and keep on improving your build withing your budget.
Tbo, I would go for a little more powerful PSU, but that`s just me.
 
I own the Elite 120 and it is a great case, but it does have a few problems with airflow.

The Elite 130 is now out and it addresses some of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Elite-130-Mini-ITX/dp/B00DRA4F06

The main thing is the mesh at the front, because in the 120 the front fan is slightly restricted in the air flow it can push in due to the front plate.

Another thing to watch out for is the CPU fan, you've gone for the unlocked K series so you plan to overclock at some point. The stock fan won't really be able to handle an overclock and the CPU might get hotter than you anticipated, so make sure the motherboard can handle a low profile aftermarket cooler. You will be restricted in height by the power supply being directly above the motherboard. For the power supply you should go for something modular or semi modular so you have less cables to tuck away and you can get better airflow. Also 600W is more than enough as AMD recommends 500W for the R9 290, and you won't be able to cross fire in this setup.

The last advice I would give you would be on the cooling you get for your GPU, it is much better to go for a blower design that vents all the hot air out of the case rather than back in as it will heat up the rest of your components quite a bit due to the restricted space. I'm not sure if the R9 290 will come with something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161420&Tpk=7950%20iceq

I went with the Sapphire 7950 and had to under-volt to get it to run cooler, I would have got the blower version in hindsight. The stock GTX 780 comes with a blower cooler as well which is nice and quiet, and should give similar performance to the R9 290.
 
The Gigabyte is a good board... if thats the brand you like go for it. But i got the MSI Z87I and its a board it'll recommend.

Here is a breakdown/benchmarks for 26 different Z87 boards:
http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/4444/39/33-haswell-motherboard-group-test-26x-z87-4x-h87-and-3x-b85-msi-z87-i

For a Mini-ITX board... the MSI Z87I is high on the charts... even compared to full size boards!

Also.. to throw my Mini-ITX build out there. I wanted to build the smallest build i could thats as powerful as a full blown machine.

SilverStone SG05 (222 mm (W) x 176 mm (H) x 276 mm (D))
SilverStone 450W Gold PSU
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Pro
Intel 4770K
MSI N770 GTX 770 OC (10.25" Long... Case length is 10.5")
8GB 1600 Balistics RAM
256 Samsung Pro 840 SSD

Every runs bulletproof and temps are really low... and yes... all that fit in the case!
 


Great build! It should come out near the end of December.
sig.jpg
 
Make sure you have really good ventilation which can be a problem for smaller cases. The R9 290 (reference cooler) reaches 95 degrees and performance will be drastically throttled down if there is not good ventilation. Currently the R9 series are the hottest cards on the market so you may want to wait, like you planned, for some third party cooling solutions.

I plan on getting an Asus DCUII variant of the R9 290 because I have been very happy with their coolers in the past. My case is a Cooler Master full ATX with 8 fans, I would have reservations about putting a card as hot as the R9 290 in anything with less air flow.

My advice would be to wait until someone else does it and posts thorough temp tests and benchmarks.