Here are the results after a few years, still very stable.
Basically the 7970 and 280x are faster or just as fast as a stock r9 290.
I had to revert the r9 290 back to stock clock since it started locking up at 1050/1450.
http://i67.tinypic.com/359gtgj.pngWhich clock and memory value you use at 280x, I currently get only 250 h / s, 16.3.2 driver