motherboard				GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H rev1.1 w/ Intel Z77 chipset
CPU						Intel Core I7 3770K (never overclocked)
RAM					2x	Corsair Dominator 8GB DDR3 1600 CMP16GX3M2A1600C10 (in Dual Channel)
PSU						Corsair HX1050 1050watt
SSD						OCZ-Vector150 120GB (@ Intel SATA in AHCI mode)
						OCZ-Vertex4 128GB (@ Intel SATA in AHCI mode)
HDD					6x	Western Digital 2TB WD2003FYPS-27W9B (@ Adaptec RAID, RAID10)
						Western Digital WDC WD5000BUDT-63G8FY0 (@ Intel SATA in AHCI mode, removable cradle)
ODD						LiteOn ATAPI iHAS124   D (@ Intel SATA in AHCI mode)
PCIE 1x (Slot 1)		Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 AC 2x2 HMC WiFi Adapter
PCIE 16x (Slot 2)		XFX R9 290 R9-290A-EDFD
PCIE 8x (Slot 4)		Adaptec ASR-6805E 8 Internal 6G SAS Ports PCIe 2.0 RAID Adapter

A few comments on those specs: All of my testing has been done with the RAID card removed and the six drives that make up the raid array disconnected from the PSU. So they aren't drawing any power and the video card is operating with a full 16 pcie lanes (confirmed with hwinfo64) for these tests.

Here's the list of data points:

First R9-290A-EDFD:
    * computer operates normally until AMD graphics drivers are installed.
    * upon initializing AMD graphics drivers video output becomes garbled and computer locks up (utterly unresponsive to all input)
    * sent back to Newegg for replacement

Second R9-290A-EDFD:
    * computer operates without any of the following symptoms for 3 months
    * computer operates normally so long as video card stays under 80C
    * once the video card reaches or exceeds 80C the computer will switch to a blank black screen within minutes
    * computer is still operating without video output while 3d application is locked up (confirmed recently)
    * stress testing other components (CPU and RAM) reveals nothing
    * providing additional airflow to the video card keeps temperature under 80C and eliminates the problem
    * installing the same videocard in a different computer produces the same problem in that computer
    * sent to XFX for RMA - they test and find no issues - they replace card anyway

Third R9-290A-EDFD:
    * computer now experiences the same blank screen issue even at idle temperatures
    * providing additional airflow to the video card eliminates all issues at below 70C
    * above 70C (yes seventy Celsius, not eighty) and even with improved airflow blank screen issue still occurs
    * same video card in a different machine (not the same as before) with an aging 500watt OEM PSU resolves all issues
    * installing a brand new XFX R9 380 R9-380P-4255 in my machine resolves all issues
    * replacing the PSU in my computer with a brand new Cooler Master M2 Silent Pro 720watt has no effect on the issues

All temperatures are GPU core temps as reported by the video card itself.