The reason I went with the 290 was because I don't want to JUST mine, I want to game as well so that aspect made the 290 more appealing to me. I had the GTX 770 and by simply switching to the 290 I'm going to get about 3x the performance when I am mining and slightly improved gaming performance.
If I set up another rig solely to mine, I'll go with a different card of course.
Personally I see bitcoin continuing to do well and Alt coins continuing to go up. With the current ROI of about a month, and the potential to mine other coins, it seems like a risk work taking to me!
You don't need a 290 for gaming.
A 7950 is enough.
Not to go too off topic here, but that's a matter of personal preference. You don't NEED a 290 to game, but when you're playing BF4 a higher end card like the 290 makes a very noticeable difference.
You have every right to your opinion though
