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What to look for in a used 290x, and aftermarket cooling options?

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Seeing there's a glut of 290x OEM cards on ebay, most fetching sub-$400... I'm toying with the thought of getting one.

Any particulars to look for? I've heard of differences in memory.

The only aftermarket air cooling option I've seen is from Arctic Cooling, what else is out there?
 

MxPhenom 216

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Seeing there's a glut of 290x OEM cards on ebay, most fetching sub-$400... I'm toying with the thought of getting one.

Any particulars to look for? I've heard of differences in memory.

The only aftermarket air cooling option I've seen is from Arctic Cooling, what else is out there?

Theres not much, other than full on water cooling.
 
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The Prolimatech and Logisys Dracula look like beasts, but don't supply any VRM or memory cooling that I can see. I like the Gelid Icy Vision, but one review talked about the fans being loud and not PWM controlled (full blast all the time).

At least there are other options. I could easily go watercooling but would rather stick with air.
 
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Check if the owner had used it for coin mining. If he did, don't give a dollar above 250$.
 

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I could easily go watercooling but would rather stick with air.

That's all I heard, and I concur! :laugh: Watercooling is beast with these cards, especially reference.
 
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Check if the owner had used it for coin mining. If he did, don't give a dollar above 250$.

Why? My assumption is virtually all of them have been used for mining. The cheapest sold on eBay was $319 back on Apr 2, so $250 isn't going to happen.

That's all I heard, and I concur! :laugh: Watercooling is beast with these cards, especially reference.

I just don't want to deal with another loop in my system, that's all.
 
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If I could buy an 290X for 400$ I'd then find a used AIO cooler and slap it on the core, then put heatsinks for the VRM and RAM...
 

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Why? My assumption is virtually all of them have been used for mining. The cheapest sold on eBay was $319 back on Apr 2, so $250 isn't going to happen.



I just don't want to deal with another loop in my system, that's all.

just add it too your current loop?
 
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The Arctic Cooling Xtreme coolers do an amazing job with the GPU, okay with the VRM's as long as you use the thermal glue correctly. Or you could just grab some nice little copper heatsinks for the VRM's.
 
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The Arctic Cooling Xtreme coolers do an amazing job with the GPU, okay with the VRM's as long as you use the thermal glue correctly. Or you could just grab some nice little copper heatsinks for the VRM's.
My friend threw one of the small $20 92mm Arctics on a 5850 and got some pretty amazing core temperatures iirc, so while they might look like cheap junk they perform well.
 
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The Arctic Cooling Xtreme coolers do an amazing job with the GPU, okay with the VRM's as long as you use the thermal glue correctly. Or you could just grab some nice little copper heatsinks for the VRM's.

So which are we talking about. I have a different card, but am interested in there cooler. If they can nicely cool a 290x, they can cool me running some crazy OCs
 
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Like TheBrainyOne say, if it was used for mining , beware, I don't think iti is worth the money, think, it is a hardware part who was put at full speed/work(100%) for 24h/day, and it is not intended for that, it is for gaming, so max 12h/day of full speed(a gamer must sleep, eat,...), like cars, look at the usual familly car vs a postal car, look how look a familly car used for postal, after some months...
 
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That's one person's story.


That was the first I came upon. Reviews generally suck (at least on Newegg). Other than that, it looks pretty thorough


That's pretty, doesn't say anything about 290x compatibility.
 

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I recently bought a ref 290 off eBay that was used as a miner. I was honestly apprehensive about it, but it's been running 24/7 (not mining) for the last 3 weeks without issue. Obviously I don't know how it will be in the future. However it's been gaming fine, it's runs pretty much the exact temps as my previous one while air cooling (both idle and load), sounds the same :laugh:, and otherwise visibly ok.

I'd suggest getting the best deal on whatever brand has the better/best RMA service just in case ;)
 
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no it is an older cooler now i guess but i am sure i recall reading it had the ability to move the most heat of all the after market ones tested. just can't recall which site the round up was on :/

if you look at the mounts it has more holes than either the arctic or the gelid so i am sure it must fit the 290s too. but it is not confirmed i agree.

had mine had stock cooling i would be posting now to confirm if it did or not mind :)
 
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Mk-26 is the best air option IMO, ive got the peter its ok but the fans are not actually mounted to the cooler but to the case chassis. And the mounting of the cooler isn't that strong, 4x spring screws holding a lot of weight, i bet in a case would pull from the IHS.

Having had a few aftermarket air coolers, i would recommend a universal block/vrm block or if money is no worry then full block.

If not get a decent 290x that has good cooling like TRI-X or MSI gaming.
 
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I've been folding with a 7970m for over a year (pretty much 24/7) and that runs whenever I'm not playing a game, usually sits at almost 90C. Still running strong. Not sure if I'd worry too much about whether the card has been pushed "too hard," as long as it works.
 

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I have used the gelid on a number of occasions and found it to be pretty good, I just bought a cheap fan controller which sorted the noise at 100%, apart from that, for the cost it's a pretty decent solution.
 
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