Custom R9 290/290X Reviews/Availability/Listings thread

[Rvenger]

Tri-X is a model example of what a non-reference card should be. It is the best 290 out there. I wish I can get my hands on one.

 

[24601]

None of you guys got the Visiontek Cryovenom when it was on sale?

I would have thought at least one of you guys would have purchased it.

 

[IEC]

Thanks; what fan speed in % was that from? 100%?

If that was @ 100% fan, at least that means I can finally write off all the AIB coolers for scrypt mining.

86C vrm1 @ 1050 @ stock voltage does not inspire confidence.

Fan 44% ~2200RPM

I could run the fan higher and get nicer temps but it's nice and quiet.

 

[IEC]

None of you guys got the Visiontek Cryovenom when it was on sale?

I would have thought at least one of you guys would have purchased it.

I would have purchased two but was sadly away from the computer and it went OOS.

 

[IEC]

According to OCN this card has worse cooling than the reference cooler. No VRM temp readings (If the GTX 780 is high, these have to be higher) It also uses chokes inferior to the reference design. Magictech vs bussman. My advice would be to stay clear of this card.

We'll see if it's true. I've got 2 on the way...

 

[24601]

Fan 44% ~2200RPM

I could run the fan higher and get nicer temps but it's nice and quiet.

I have hope for the card still then .

Will get it if it ever goes to ~400 USD.

 

[Silverforce11]

Fan 44% ~2200RPM

I could run the fan higher and get nicer temps but it's nice and quiet.

Wait, 44% fan on MSI gaming and you are mining OC?

 

[IEC]

Wait, 44% fan on MSI gaming and you are mining OC?

No, I get those temps using a Sapphire 290 Tri-X. I have two MSI gaming 290s on the way and plan to do a comparison between the two.

Supposedly the MSI sucks for OCing but we will see if its cooler is up to task and how much it can OC.

 

[Silverforce11]

Yeah thought so, damn the Tri-X is too good, it doesn't even give a damn about scrypt mining load. heh

They are all sold out here, I've been watching retailers for stock to setup another mining rig.

 

[Rvenger]

We'll see if it's true. I've got 2 on the way...

Yes, please report back with your results. I am curious what chokes are being used on the card as well.

 

[Skurge]

So I am a crossroads.

I can get 2x Sapphire 290 Tri-X for same price as 2x Gigabyte 290X Windforce 3X

I don't know what to get.

 

[24601]

So I am a crossroads.

I can get 2x Sapphire 290 Tri-X for same price as 2x Gigabyte 290X Windforce 3X

I don't know what to get.

290x has 10% more shaders and 10% more TMUs, it's a no-brainer.

The windforce should do fine at 100% fan, dunno what your noise tolerance or case airflow is.

For gaming there is no way the Hynix vs Elpida is worth the large difference in amount of shaders.

If you don't care about the cost I would get a 290x Sapphire Tri-X though.

Also if you are crossfireing the Tri-X wouldn't really be better than reference in terms of thermals, noise would undoubtedly be better though.

 

[Skurge]

290x has 10% more shaders and 10% more TMUs, it's a no-brainer.

The windforce should do fine at 100% fan, dunno what your noise tolerance or case airflow is.

For gaming there is no way the Hynix vs Elpida is worth the large difference in amount of shaders.

If you don't care about the cost I would get a 290x Sapphire Tri-X though.

Also if you are crossfireing the Tri-X wouldn't really be better than reference in terms of thermals, noise would undoubtedly be better though.

The 290X Tri-X is about U$200 more than the other 2. As long as the cards are quiet at idle, that's all that really matter TBH.

 

[RaulF]

Out of stock and usually ships in 1-2 months? And that's 60$ over MSRP isn't it?

What if someone wants to mine now , not two months from now.

The reference 290 is 399.

The MSI card is not reference, the price of it might be higher than msrp. Just like the sapphire Trix cards are priced by sapphire at 50 over msrp. It could be the same for MSI.

 

[Fastx]

I don't really get it. These coolers perform superbly on the nvidia side (MSI gamer and the Asus DC II) yet when they slap them on AMD cards, MSI and asus seem to treat the AMD side as a red-headed step child.

Not sure what's up with that. Anyone know? There seems to be a rather big gulf with these coolers being excellent on the NV side, not so great on the AMD side. Although i'm not sure if that is solely due to VRM cooling or what. I suspect that the Nvidia green light program plays a role in ensuring things are up to snuff, but I'd think that AMD has something similar in terms of ensuring AIB quality. Especially after the debacle with the XFX DD 79xx cards.

Right now it seems the Tri-X is the best one on the AMD side, someone correct me if i'm wrong. From what i've seen the Tri-X 290X performs hands down excellent even with VRM cooling.

In the end, we should demand better of these hardware companies. I don't think it's acceptable that both the Asus and MSI aftermarket boards have sub-par VRM cooling. It's pretty anti-consumer, IMO, and i'm not sure what the best method of sending a message to asus and MSI is. I guess vote with your wallet and get the Sapphire Tri-X over those cards.

He was able to overclock that MSI to 1175 (3D Mark) which is decent imo, the problem of course is the GPU temps are kind of high at those clocks already (85c -88c w/100% fan) and at 1200 w/100% fan he was at 94C but had problems with it not being stable, throttling and who knows where the VRM temps are at these temps with no VRM temp sensors.

Possible problem's imo.
1. Thermal paste not applied correctly from MSI.
2. Possible one off defective heatsink/cooler from MSI.
3. The TF IV cooler (heat dissipation) is just not good enough for a 290 GPU when over clocking per clocks above per high temps above?

For reference the MSI TF IV is a dual fan 2.8k rpm and the Tri-X is a triple fan 4k rpm.

If 1 & 2 are fine then it just comes down to the cooler not being good enough for the 290 GPU per above oc's per temps above imo. We will have to wait for IEC and compare oc's/ temps above.

 

[Silverforce11]

I don't really get it. These coolers perform superbly on the nvidia side (MSI gamer and the Asus DC II) yet when they slap them on AMD cards, MSI and asus seem to treat the AMD side as a red-headed step child.

If you did some research, its because these AIB recycle coolers designed for Gk110, with its bigger die, their heatpipes all make contact.

On the R290/X, several heatpipes have no contact and thus the entire cooler operates less efficiently.

The only one so far custom made for the Hawaii die thats released/reviewed: Sapphire Tri-X and XFX DD and both work very well.

And yes, we should demand better from these AIBs. So far, I held off buying 4 more R290 since the only available ones were gigabyte here.

 

[blackened23]

Why doesn't AMD have an nvidia greenlight type of program? Or do they have such a program? Nvidia from what i understand has strict quality control and requirements for all aftermarket cards. These problems should be nipped in the bud prior to production. That way no consumer would have to second guess buying a 290 aftermarket card, you know?

While I can't forgive the manufacturers for allowing this to happen - vote with your wallet - AMD should also step up their QA process if they haven't. IMO. That's important to the brand name. Right? If someone buys an AMD GPU they generally blame AMD for problems if they have a bad experience. But if they buy a random XFX GPU that crashes, the user might not even know it's XFX' fault. They'll say...this AMD card is trash and blame AMD for it. That hurts the AMD brand. That's why AMD can't allow this thing to go on, at least that's what i'm thinking. That's why nvidia is protective over their brand with nvidia greenlight, as far as I can tell.

So the real question is, where is AMD in all of this.

 

[Silverforce11]

Because the ASUS or Gigabyte card actually run fine and don't throttle or get very noisy or hot.. so whats the problem?

VRM at 89C worry you? How about around that for popular custom 780 ti? Except you won't know (if anything, you should hassle NV to put in VRM sensors, all these forum OCers running their cards to max, their VRM could well be 115C!!), unless you have a thermal camera.

They are adequate, but the Tri-X is just excellent, on another level. Thats why everyone wants it and its sold out constantly.

 

[blackened23]

Because the ASUS or Gigabyte card actually run fine and don't throttle or get very noisy or hot.. so whats the problem?

VRM at 89C worry you? How about around that for popular custom 780 ti? Except you won't know (if anything, you should hassle NV to put in VRM sensors, all these forum OCers running their cards to max, their VRM could well be 115C!!), unless you have a thermal camera.

They are adequate, but the Tri-X is just excellent, on another level. Thats why everyone wants it and its sold out constantly.

Wait. Do we demand better of AIBs (your first statement) or do they run fine (your second statement). If they're fine why would we demand better of AIBs. I see two conflicting statements, provided by you, i'm confused.

BTW. Several people have tested the asus VRMS on the DC II and they get up well past 100C. That would worry me. Yeah. Because it limits my overclocking.

 

[Silverforce11]

No, I have my gaming rig already. So any future radeon purchase is specifically for mining, i see it in that view.. for mining, its not good enough, the asus/gigabyte models don't keep VRM cool enough to run 24/7 mining, for my taste anyway. I know others DGAF and run them at 115C 24/7 no issues.

I demand better because my needs are different. For gaming, i wouldn't care less. These cards seem to OC to 1.1 to 1.2ghz as it is, for anything higher, we will have to see what better custom PCB bring, these recent release are all very similar or identical to reference design.

 

[staryoshi]

If you did some research, its because these AIB recycle coolers designed for Gk110, with its bigger die, their heatpipes all make contact.

On the R290/X, several heatpipes have no contact and thus the entire cooler operates less efficiently.

The only one so far custom made for the Hawaii die thats released/reviewed: Sapphire Tri-X and XFX DD and both work very well.

And yes, we should demand better from these AIBs. So far, I held off buying 4 more R290 since the only available ones were gigabyte here.

MSI's Twin Frozr heatsink for the r9 290 series is not a copy/paste job like some of the other ones. It's much beefier and has a perpendicular fin layout now. I'll be reviewing it when Amazon decides to ship mine.

 

[Z15CAM]

If you have a water loop the VisionTek CryoVenom R9 290 at $550 US$ looks like steal: http://www.visiontekproducts.com/ind...etail?Itemid=0

Due to the terrible VRM temp issues of the card, if you want to OC the Hawaii over 1170/1300 - 24/7, you have to run a Water Block.

A WB 290X should easily do 1250/1500.

 

[Fastx]

Interesting, I came across another user review and looks like this MSI 290 Gaming Card has VRM sensors, so not sure what going on with the other user card at this point. They are both using GPUz 7.5.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25656705&postcount=90

 

[nurturedhate]

I'm glad the msi card is looking better than that original review. I was worried for a bit. I plan on buying a 290 here in a month or so, lets hope the prices drop to under 450. The sapphire tri-x card is nice but it is just too long for my Antec 300 without modding the hdd bay plus I do like the extra warranty length that comes with the msi.

just an added thought while thinking of my card purchases over the years, I have basically flipped back and forth with every card purchase. I started with a Voodoo 3 3000 > gforce 2 gts > ati 9600xt then got a 9800pro off a friend > 8600gt that died and evga replaced it with a 8800gt (how nice of them) > 4870 crossfire > 580 and now hopefully a 290.

 

[Z15CAM]

this MSI 290 Gaming Card has VRM sensors, so not sure what going on with the other user card at this point. They are both using GPUz 7.5.

I'm running GPU-Z v0.7.4 and have no issues logging VRM Temps on my Reference R9 290X; however, I don't believe that MSI card is a reference design.