The MSI R9 290X Gaming OC and the R9 290 Gaming OC card have gone up for pre-order at Canadian e-tailer NCIX, likely a little stunt or a booboo as that information should not yet be on-line. The R9 290X Gaming OC is priced at $699 CAD which includes taxes (US $660). On the other end of the scope the Radeon R9 290 Gaming OC is priced at $529.99 CAD (US $500). Though there already have been photo's shown last week on the product, this one reveals the PCB as well.
Looking at it, the PCB definitely a custom MSI design with a fairly reference layout. Components wise things are not reference though, the good news is that MSI uses SK Hynix memory chips (thus not Elpida ).
| Product Name | R9 290X GAMING 4G |
| GPU | AMD Radeon R9 290X |
| Codename | Hawaii XT |
| Processors | 2816 Units |
| Core Clock (OC Mode) | 1040 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 5000 MHz |
| Memory Size | 4G GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 512 bits |
| Outputs | DisplayPort / HDMI DL DVI-D*2 |
| Power Consumption | 250W |
| Card Dimension | 257 x 114 x 39 mm |
| Form Factor | ATX |
If you look closely you'll spot a dual-BIOS. NCIX shows that the memory clock speeds is 5.00 GHz, The R9 290 Gaming OC would get GPU clock speeds (possibly PowerTune boost) of up to 1000 MHz (948 MHz reference), while the R9 290X Gaming OC features a 1040 MHz boost frequency. The card is cooled with the MSI TwinFrozr series cooler.
MSI Radeon R9 290 Photos and PCB Pictured
