Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X, 4 versions...

[Blín D'ñero]

SAPPHIRE R9 290 Tri-X

So, there are four versions (source: sapphiretech.com):

1. SAPPHIRE TRI-X R9 290 4GB GDDR5 (UEFI) [SKU ID: 11227-03]

   SAPPHIRE R9 290 Tri-X has 2560 stream processing units and an engine clock of up to 957 Mhz. Also equipped with 4GB of the latest high performance GDDR5 memory on a 512-bit interface and clocked at 1250 MHz (5.0GHz effective).

   .
2. SAPPHIRE TRI-X R9 290 4GB GDDR5 OC(UEFI) [SKU ID: 11227-00]

   SAPPHIRE R9 290 Tri-X has 2560 stream processing units and an engine clock of up to 1000 Mhz. Also equipped with 4GB of the latest high performance GDDR5 memory on a 512-bit interface and clocked at 1300 MHz (5.2GHz effective).

   .
3. Tri-X R9 290 4GB GDDR5 OC(UEFI), New Edition [SKU ID: 11227-13]

   The new SAPPHIRE R9 290 Tri-X 4GB OC features the latest GCN (graphics core next) architecture from AMD with 2560 stream processing units and an enhanced engine clock of up to 1000Mhz. It is equipped with 4GB of the latest high performance GDDR5 memory on a 512-bit interface and now clocked at 1300 MHz (5.2GHz effective) delivering higher bandwidth than earlier models.The new SAPPHIRE R9 290 Tri-X 4GB OC is built on a SAPPHIRE original pcb design with the power design upgraded to a 6-phase VDDC power design. Two 8-pin power connectors ensure adequate system power is available (up to 375 Watts total including PCI-Express power).

   + Sapphire TriXX Utility software is included in the box.
   .
4. Tri-X R9 290 4GB GDDR5 OC(UEFI), New Edition [SKU ID: 11227-14]

   The new SAPPHIRE R9 290 Tri-X 4GB OC features the latest GCN (graphics core next) architecture from AMD with 2560 stream processing units and an enhanced engine clock of up to 957Mhz. It is equipped with 4GB of the latest high performance GDDR5 memory on a 512-bit interface and now clocked at 1250 MHz (5.0GHz effective) delivering higher bandwidth than earlier models.The new SAPPHIRE R9 290 Tri-X 4GB OC is built on a SAPPHIRE original pcb design with the power design upgraded to a 6-phase VDDC power design. Two 8-pin power connectors ensure adequate system power is available (up to 375 Watts total including PCI-Express power).

   + Sapphire TriXX Utility software is included in the box.

• Conclusion:
• 1 and 2 are built on the AMD reference PCB.
  • 1 is overclocked: 6 Mhz core / 75 Mhz mem.
  • 2 is overclocked: 53 Mhz core / 125 Mhz mem.
• 3 and 4 are built on a Sapphire custom PCB with the power design upgraded to a 6-phase VDDC power design (two 8-pin power connectors).
  • 3 is overclocked: 53 Mhz core / 125 Mhz mem.
  • 4 is overclocked: 6 Mhz core / 75 Mhz mem.

Two days ago i bought number 2 in the list, and yesterday (impressed!) i ordered a second identical one. According to my order bill they are [SKU ID: 11227-00-40G]
Here is the box that i have; it does not say OC. You can clearly see it says R9 290 Tri-X. But the sticker on the box says: R9 290 4G GDDR5 PCI-E DUAL DVI-D/HDMI/DP TRI-X OC VERSION (UEFI), and SKU 11227-00-40G. The stickers on the card are saying the same.

This exact one (techpowerup.com)

[Blín D'ñero]

Reviews of the card:

Amazon Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB GDDR5 DUAL DVI-D/HDMI/DP TRI-X OC Version PCI-Express Graphics Card 11227-00-40G
Anandtech Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC Review: Our First Custom Cooled 290
Eteknix Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X 4GB Graphics Card Review
Gameranx Review: AMD Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 <-- lazy reviewer: the card is only compared to a Geforce GTX 680
hardwareoverclock Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC
Hardwarecanucks Sapphire R9 290 4GB TRI-X OC Review
Hexus Review: Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X
Hitechlegion Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X OC Edition Review
Lanoc Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X
Tomshardware Partner Cards: Two Radeon R9 290s And Five 290Xs, Updated
Tweaktown Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X OC Video Card Review (with 4K tests)

As for the board itself, as was previously mentioned this is a semi-custom card, so Sapphire is melding their custom cooler to AMD’s reference board – complete with the AMD logo. This isn’t an overclocking-centric card, so AMD’s board is a reasonable choice here, especially if it means getting cards out quickly. Using AMD’s board also means that the power requirements and I/O options are identical to the reference 290. This means we’re looking at a peak power consumption of about 300W, augmented by a 6pin + 8pin PCIe power socket set at the top of the card. Meanwhile I/O is 2x DL-DVI, 1x DisplayPort, and 1x HDMI. This also means that the BIOS selection switch is present; it of course didn’t do anything special for the 290, so Sapphire has repurposed it to allow selecting between UEFI and BIOS type VBIOSes.

On a related note, because Sapphire is using AMD’s reference board this means that Sapphire’s cooler is larger than the board itself. The board is 10.5” long, while the Tri-X cooler brings the total length of the card to a clean 12”. Though despite the size difference, Sapphire has done an extremely good job with their build quality here, more than resolving the issues we saw with our 280X Toxic sample. Sapphire has mounted the board to the Tri-X cooler at every single screw point available on the board, including 3 points at the rear of the card, securely attaching the card to the cooler. There is no flex or bending of any kind in the board or the cooler, so the card is as solid as solid can be.

Source (anandtech)

[Blín D'ñero]

Oh i forgot to mention:

The SAPPHIRE TRI-X R9 290 4GB GDDR5 OC(UEFI) [SKU ID: 11227-00] (i bought two, with a few weeks in between the orders) that i bought kept crashing in 2D, on desktop. Both carried a different but old bios, so both had to be flashed with the latest bios. That totally fixed it!

The updated bios is 015.044.000.011.000000 and i got it from techpowerup.

The one you need is this:
TRIXOC_015.044.000.011.000000
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/161 ... 40320.html = Sapphire.R9290.4096.140320 = the 'normal' version
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/162 ... 320-1.html = Sapphire.R9290.4096.140320_1 = the UEFI version.

UEFI (when you have the bios switch on the installed card aimed towards the backside of the PC) is only needed if you use Windows 8.1 or 10, AND actually use the VGA UEFI interface from within Windows.
Otherwise, like me, Windows 7 user, use the first one (bios switch on the installed card aimed towards the frontside of the PC).