14 DAY TRIAL // Hardcore gamers are really likely to buy one of those new dual-GPU video cards from NVIDIA or Advanced Micro Devices, but they could very well go for one of the single-chip cards too, like the one that VisionTek has just released.
The new graphics adapter to leave VisionTek's labs is called CryoVenom R9 290LE and uses a water block, meaning that you should only buy it if you have a water cooling system in your PC.
Knowing what hardcore gamers are like, the number of people who own such a PC is probably higher than you might think.
Anyway, the CryoVenom R9 290 being a version of the R9 290 (non-X) is not the best single-chip video card out there.
However, it does have the advantage of a lower price and, thanks to the water block, it can fit in the space of a single PCI Express slot.
Thus, you can more easily set up multi-card CrossFireX configurations, offsetting the slightly lower performance compared to R9 290X boards.
Also, the thickness (thinness really) means that you don't need large motherboards to accommodate dual-, triple- and quad-CrossFireX setups.
Also, liquid cooling is naturally more silent than air-based cooling, not to mention much more effective.
In this case, the board runs 38% cooler than the normal one, while making only 10 dB of noise, about as much as a pin drop.
Spec-wise, the VisionTek CryoVenom R9 290LE has a GPU clock of up to 1175MHz (stock is 947MHz, if you want a comparison) and a memory frequency of 1450MHz (stock is 1250MHz). That means 5.8 GHz versus the stock 5 GHz.
The video card also boasts a pair of dual-link DVI ports and an HDMI connector, plus a full-size DisplayPort output.
Finally, the memory interface is of 512 bits and the amount of memory is 4 GB (GDDR5 VRAM as it were).
The VisionTek CryoVenom R9 290LE graphics card has a price of $650 / €650 and will only be available in a Limited Edition (that's what LE stands for). About 100 will be made, so hurry and buy one before May 1 (there's a 5% discount in the meantime).
Buyers will get a redemption code for Battlefield 4, which normally ships for $50 / €50 of its own. Not bad for a freebie, even if it's not exactly the same as the three-game offer in the Never Settle promotional program that AMD is running. And as if that weren't enough, the product ships in a wooden crate, of all things, with a laser-etched CryoVenom logo.