Reddit reviews R9 290X Gaming 4G - Graphics Card - Radeon R9 290X - 4 GB GDDR5 - PCI Express 3.0 x16 - 2 x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort

I would suggest you do more independent research before you make such a damning statement, the 970 outperfroms the 290 by a decent margin 1080p and still at 1440p. As for the 290x, anandtech are posting that the 970 outperforms it at 1080p and again in a few cases at 1440p, not to mention the MSI 290x is £284.99 and the MSI 970 is cheaper at £279.99. Although I'd take that with a pinch of salt because its an aftermarket evga 970 vs a reference 290x.

In my opinion it's hard to beat the price/performance at 1080 - 1440p of the GTX 970, beyond that AMD do have an edge with what I think is a larger memory bus 512-bit vs 256, although the 970 isn't too far behind.
Once you start getting to a point where the cards are using over 3.5GB of their VRAM you're gonna run into issues with the strength of the cards regardless because as far as I'm concerned we don't yet have the hardware for 4k efficiently.

Ever hear of Google?

But if you insist...

GTX 970: https://www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-970-04G-P4-2974-KR/dp/B00NSXYEQW/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1483395099&sr=1-1&keywords=GTX+970

GTX 980Ti: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Palit-GeForce-Jetstream-Graphics-DisplayPort/dp/B00ZRIGGY4/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1483395151&sr=1-3&keywords=GTX+980ti

AMD R9 Cards: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-290X-GAMING-Graphics-PCI-E/dp/B00HQJBWIM/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1483395202&sr=1-1&keywords=r9+290x

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-Dual-X-Radeon-GDDR5-Graphics-x/dp/B00FL8H57W/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1483395232&sr=1-1&keywords=r9+280x

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00HQJBWIM/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Used so will have to check the warranty ect. The 30% is discounted at checkout, free postage too i think.

I was also contemplating a Radeon R9 290x, bit more expensive and it'd need a better PSU, though I'm currently feeling very much like this

the drivers installed automatically. I've downloaded ccc and it says it's running the latest driver. The issue I'm having is there seems to be so many different variants of this card, I think this is just different coolers and over clocking tho? so that shouldn't affect the driver.

This is the card I have http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HQJBWIM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

> r9 290
No set budget really as I was even considering a whole new desktop and salvaging parts but upgrading is more sensible, it seems that the r9 is the way to go, would you say this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-TRI-X-Graphics-Card-PCI-E/dp/B00HFA44YQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426983385&sr=8-2&keywords=r9+290 or this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Radeon-DirectCU-Graphics-GDDR5-Express/dp/B00HOW1Q46/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1426983440&sr=1-1&keywords=r9+290 or even the x http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-290X-GAMING-Graphics-PCI-E/dp/B00HQJBWIM/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1426983455&sr=1-1&keywords=r9+290x thank you

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor | £215.99 @ Aria PC
CPU Cooler | Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | £79.98 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard | MSI Z87I GAMING AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard | £125.61 @ Dabs
Memory | Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | £90.42 @ Amazon UK
Storage | Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | £59.95 @ Amazon UK
Storage | Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | £35.94 @ Aria PC
Video Card| MSI AMD R9 290X| £379.99 @ Amazon
Case | Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case | £66.99 @ Amazon UK
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | £64.99 @ Amazon UK
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) | £134.26 @ CCL Computers
Monitor | LG D2343P-BN 60Hz 23.0" Monitor | £149.99 @ Amazon UK
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | £1404.11
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-20 16:09 BST+0100 |


Here's what I'd do. 290X funded by shaving RAM, SSD and monitor costs. Personally I'd also go for the 4670k over 4770k but given your requirements the cost may genuinely be justified. If you're not over clocking then you can go for a cheaper cooler, and the non-K variant of the CPU, which will save you ~£40.

It's worth noting you can usually pick up windows under student discount through your uni's IT department, which will shave a good chunk off that price.

If I were you, and willing to go to a 4670k, I'd bump down the processor, see how much you can save on the OS and put that money into a better monitor.

Wasn't sure what you meant by 'reference card' so i've linked you the card instead .
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-290X-GAMING-Graphics-PCI-E/dp/B00HQJBWIM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468671227&sr=8-1&keywords=r9+290x

This 290x is 15 pounds over budget and si the best single gpu that amd currently offer http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HQJBWIM/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i6?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0W0BB64S9KQ4VH2K69EX&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=455344027&pf_rd_i=468294