Since the Hawaii event we have been hearing that $699 might be the price of the new Radeon R9 290X card when it launches, but as it has happened before this might be a place holder and the card might end up with a new tweaked price. Multiple sources told us $699 is indeed the price, but like we said this could change.

The launch price is still a closely guarded secret and from what we hear AMD is keeping it under wraps until the cards go on sale. A few people were informed that $699 to $729 is what the shops should charge for preorders, but the price can go down to $599 at launch date.

However, if $699 sounds a bit steep, there’s still hope that the card could end up significantly cheaper. For example, we’re seeing Sapphire’s reference card listed for $579 in Canada, $555, $616 and $608 in three US shops. We couldn’t find any listings in Europe, at least not yet. We have yet to see any R9 290 listings and we reckon the Pro could be a great seller, provided it is priced right.

The big question about the card’s performance against Nvidia’s Geforce Titan remains. However, Titan sells for $999, making the Radeon R9 290X much more attractive, provided the leaked benchmarks were legit.

Nvidia has a gaming event in Montreal mid next week and all eyes will be pointed there. Some punters even expect a new Titan version to show up at this event. We believe that Nvidia's The way it’s meant to be played team will getter a few top gaming names including people behind Assassins creed and talk and show some cool 4K demos.

We wouldn’t bet on a new Titan though.