MSI R9 290 OC Gaming Edition Review (1600p, Ultra HD 4K)

We have reviewed a handful of AMD R9 290 partner cards this year, and the MSI R9 290 OC Gaming Edition has proven to be one of our favourites so far.

MSI have equipped this particular card with an excellent twin fan cooling system, comprising multiple thick heatpipes which run into two separate racks of aluminum fins on either side of the GPU block. While the running temperatures are higher than the Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X OC, the fans on the MSI solution spin very slowly under load, subsequently emitting low levels of noise at all times.

By effectively targeting noise emissions, MSI have addressed one of our major concerns with the reference AMD solution – it was close to unbearable under extended load. If you have sensitive ears, then the MSI R9 290 OC is a wise choice, as we didn't notice any additional whirring above the system fans during the last week of testing.

We do feel that MSI could have improved their load temperatures however by taking a leaf out of Sapphire's book, and adopting a triple fan cooling system.

VRM cooling on this card is well within expected tolerances – GPUZ measured VRM 1 and VRM 2 peak temperatures at 92c and 70c respectively. It is good to see MSI taking this into consideration, especially as long term high running VRM temperatures can affect reliability and stability.

While all samples will deliver varying levels of core overclocking headroom, we were able to increase the clock speeds to 1,133mhz, a full 16 percent increase over MSI's selected 977mhz speeds. Even when factoring in tolerance variations from solution to solution we feel MSI could have acted more aggressively, hitting 1,040mhz easily enough and matching the Gigabyte R9 290 Windforce OC.

If you are in the market for a new high end graphics solution for the latest games, then this card should get some serious consideration. OverclockersUK have it in stock today for £367.99 inc vat. If you manually tweak this card to 1,050mhz or greater, you will be getting R9 290X beating performance at a fraction of the cost.

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.

Pros:

• low noise levels.
• looks fantastic.
• built well, with backplate.
• massive overclocking headroom.

Cons:

• triple fan cooler like Sapphire Tri-X could improve load temperatures.
• why only 977mhz core?

Kitguru says: One of the best deals right now if you want a custom R9 290. Quiet, fast, cost effective with loads of overclocking headroom available on the core.

Become a Patron!