Running 8x R9 290X is going to cost $300/month in electricity to make maybe .5 BTC at most; and now that BTC is in the shitter at $420/USD we're losing nearly 30% by mining alone.
It'd be nice for some of the dedicated and die-hard supporters of the thread to band together and see what we can do about it, but you're right, by more people having a higher hashrate - everybody loses.
What a conundrum.
Maybe time to go for the new maxwell 9xx series with their low powerconsumption( gtx 970 vs 290x =100watt less)
About their hashrates we have to see yet.