Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X 8GB CrossFireX Review

Rikki Wright / 10 years ago

Final Thoughts

So today we had the Sapphire Tri-x R9 290x 8GB graphics cards in for some crossfire punishment and I can honestly say I am impressed with the results. Not only did they perform well, but they also look the part and that 8GB of VRAM gives me solace in the fact that in the future, I will be protected from most games that demand high quantities of VRAM.

I love how these cards look, that massive contrast from black to bright orange would make these cards stand out in any computer setup unless you store it under a desk. However, these would look the part within a glass topped desk build where you can see everything.

Moving to the performance of these cards, they performed very well compared to the competition and even managed to pip AMD’s flagship R9 295×2 to the top spot in some of the tests; producing a very playable 68FPS on average at 4K.

With the good, comes the bad; however there isn’t much bad to say. All I can possibly say here is the price, the £329.99 asking price is fair for a single card and we have previously recommended our readers of buying. However, if you are considering buying two straight away, consider the Sapphire R9 295×2. Perched around the £530 mark, that’s around £100 saved and you get a snazzy water cooling solution too.

Now this part is where I would recommend the manufacturer to change something, but I can’t honestly think of anything. I have previously mentioned in the single card review, that the card could be finished with a back plate, but that’s it.

Pros

Very good performance
Cool and quiet for some of the hottest cards on the market
Outstanding looks
8GB VRAM allows for some future-proofing for more demanding titles

Cons

Power hungry compared to NVIDIA’s offerings
Rather pricey option compared to a single Sapphire R9 295×2

“If you’ve recently moved to 4K gaming, take a look at the Sapphire Tri-x R9 290x 8GB CFX combo, outstanding performance and great looks with 8GB of VRAM to give those demanding titles a good playing experience.”