Power Consumption & Temperatures
At idle, the R9 290-equipped system consumed just 62 watts, which is the same figure we got from the R9 290X, placing both cards toward the middle of our graph.
When playing Crysis 3, the R9 290 system consumed 300 watts, four less than the R9 290X.
Again, we see very little difference between the power consumption of the R9 290 and the R9 290X in Max Payne 3, being separated by only a few watts.
In Sleeping Dogs, the R9 290 rig consumed 347 watts, a handful less than the R9 290X, as expected.
With the same cooler as the R9 290X and virtually the same power consumption, we weren't shocked to see the R9 290 operate at about the same temperatures.
Update: Based on your feedback, I took the IceQ X2 cooler off the HIS Radeon R9 280X and stuck it on our R9 290 sample. Cooling was dramatically improved. The FurMark stress test maxed out at 76 degrees while the card never exceeded 63 degrees in Crysis 3 and Battlefield 4. So it seems as expected the board partners will be able to solve the heat issues of the reference card.