Quad R9 290x or Quad GTX 980 *liquid cooled*

[guskline]

With only 2 290s in CF and 2 rads in series I'll add my 2 cents worth from what I've experienced.

KaRLiToS rig is as "Fat B"stard would say" Drop dead sexy! But expensive. To run a quad gpu setup with especially the 290/290x series you will need a HUGE and expensive PSU.

Second, if you custom watercool BE PREPARED to spend big $$$ on a case unless you use external rads. I opted to put my $$ into an external rad (MO RA3-420 a BEAST) instead of buying a custom case.

aigomorla nailed it. Custom watercooling is NOT cheap even if you are using lesser priced parts.

Just remember that 4 290s will throw a TON of heat.

 

[NioNai]

Holy crap! You guys are awesome with all this information and help, Especially you KaRLiTos. Thank you so much for all the information and feedback. Spending extra cash isn't a problem really I've already planned to sell my old rig to a friend for $2000 with all the monitors and mount, and my Asus G750 laptop for another 1k so if I really wanted I would have up to $8000 for the system, but that is if I just wanted a complete monster. As for adding cooling in one system, I actually thought of having a smaller case outside that held my radiator or radiators and just have it with fans and the rads alone just to keep my main tower empty of those. Would make moving it a complete pain but I figured it would be for the best overall.

So I'm seeing a few suggestions on waiting as well, Since that is up in the air, I'll post my current rig specs and a few questions afterwards.

FX-8350 *cooled by Antec 1250, 4.9Ghz*
AsRock FX990 Extreme 9
2x 4GB ELSA GTX 770 *one is hybrid*
1 250GB Evo 840 Pro
1 500GB Evo 840
1 3TB storage drive
3x 144hz Philips monitors
1 Asus 4k Monitor
*The best I've gotten out of it* www.3dmark.com/fs/2662078
I've thought about keeping my rig as I've seen some benchmarks show the FX-8350 keep up with near identical benchs and fps with the new i7 series at 4k, but still loses out at 1080p. My biggest problem is I've not been able to find anywhere how many PCI-E lanes my motherboard supports since the lanes are handled board side I don't know if I would hit a bottleneck if I run 4 cards, this is the biggest reason for my CPU/MOBO upgrade.

I have thought about adding a 3rd GTX 770, And I've seen benchmarks and game runs that show a decent improvement, but I also know that is the cards limit unless I use a modified driver and run 4 GTX 770s, My biggest problem with doing this though is that a 770 costs pretty much the same as a 290x everywhere I look right now. So I feel like that is a huge step backwards. Heck even the GTX 970s seem to all be priced around the same point as the 4GB 770s.

Here are some pictures of my current*3 monitor* setup http://imgur.com/gallery/xhsZt
*4k setup and added fans and card movement* http://imgur.com/a/kXqbl

 

[_UP_]

I'd also suggest going with 290x'. These are pretty amazing cards. I'd suggest getting them used as a stop gap cards. Get a couple with a block until 390x/GM200 comes out.
As for the loop, I haven't set up mine but bought all of it (except for the copper pipes... Soon). Plan to spend more than you plan. That's all I have to say.

 

[lavaheadache]

There is a guy on hard forum selling a ton of 290x's for $250 ea. I think. The cards were mined on but they are warranted and he's personally backing them. That's a lot of bang for the buck if you ask me.

 

[alkemyst]

There is a guy on hard forum selling a ton of 290x's for $250 ea. I think. The cards were mined on but they are warranted and he's personally backing them. That's a lot of bang for the buck if you ask me.

Newegg has the XFX R9 290 4GB for $259 shipped ($10 gift card, $269 otherwise)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...FXMV7AodDi4Azg

The 290 can be made into a 290x usually:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/graphi...e_Easily_Transformed_into_R9_290X_Report.html

 

[njdevilsfan87]

My Switch 810. I'm running 3x GPUs, but a 4th wouldn't change this loop up in any major way. It would just be another GPU with a quad GPU terminal as opposed to 3x terminal. I have dual D5 pumps running at speed 3/5 as well. I peak about 45C on the hottest GPU during a long gaming session with all GPUs working. I do not significantly overclock the GPUs though. The highest I will go on them is whatever 1.212V is capable of, which is around ~1150mhz running all three SLI (I cannot volt mod anyway because they will draw too much power for the 1300W PSU to handle). I assume if I added a 4th GPU, I'd start hitting 50C on the hottest one - still not bad. But then I'd need a beefier PSU as well. I could get 120mm more rad space in this 810 by going 280 up front and 280 in front of the PSU, and then hang mounting the res.

So it can be done within a case, on a single serial loop, put under the desk, out of the way.

A big problem a lot of water coolers make is they are not consistent with radiator flow direction. For maximum efficiency, either all your rads are exhaust, or all are intake. And not front rads as intake, and then top and back as exhaust (for example). That kills radiator efficiency. If you have a front intake rad, any exhaust rads in your system are pretty much useless. I even see builders with CaseLabs cases do that.

A build identical to this with GTX 980s would cost over $5000 with water cooling included. If you drop down to 970s and a 5820K you're still looking at ~$4K+ with 4x GPUs. Water cooling parts will run over $1000 alone (I'd say $1500 for a 4x GPU system).

 

[KaRLiToS]

*snip*

By the way, VERY VERY Nice rig man. Love the white theme

Yes, you are right, I also have all my Radiators as exhaust and all the other fans are intakes. I have 3 side panels intake fans, 1 front panel intake fans and 1 back panel intake fan. And I prefer the rads being exhaust, that way no hot air inside the case. That is why in the vid, water temp is 30'C and the temps inside the case are as low as 26'C

This is the bottom radiator mod, it intakes the air from bottom and side panel and exhaust through the back side panel. (notice it is my old system from 2011 but rad position hasnt change)

And this is the back panel modification to exhaust the hot air from the other side. (still hasn't change since 2011 too)

 

[njdevilsfan87]

This is the bottom radiator mod, it intakes the air from bottom and side panel and exhaust through the back side panel. (notice it is my old system from 2011 but rad position hasnt change)



And this is the back panel modification to exhaust the hot air from the other side. (still hasn't change since 2011 too)

Yep, and there are some cases made specifically for that (like Corsair 900D). To be able to mount a rad sideways like that and have intake and exhaust that does not require air to be drawn through or pushed over any other portion of the case is great. Ambient cool air into the rad and hot air straight back out of case. Really effective mod there! (and clean/professional looking as well)

 

[KaRLiToS]

Yep, and there are some cases made specifically for that (like Corsair 900D). To be able to mount a rad sideways like that and have intake and exhaust that does not require air to be drawn through or pushed over any other portion of the case is great. Ambient cool air into the rad and hot air straight back out of case. Really effective mod there!

It is fun sharing stuff and knowledge like that with fellow enthousiasts

But your case deserves to be on a desk :ninja: .

 

[njdevilsfan87]

But your case deserves to be on a desk :ninja: .

Agree. One does not simply spend a few grand on a case, parts, and watercooling like that only to throw it under the desk. I can understand people with sleeper cars, but when it comes to computers, everyone who enters should bask by the master race that is present in front of them on the desk. :awe:

 

[lavaheadache]

Newegg has the XFX R9 290 4GB for $259 shipped ($10 gift card, $269 otherwise)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...FXMV7AodDi4Azg

The 290 can be made into a 290x usually:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/graphi...e_Easily_Transformed_into_R9_290X_Report.html

that is an old link from back when there were very specific vendors having batch's of 290's that were unlockable. I haven't heard of anything recent.

 

[NioNai]

Part of me wants to wait now till the 390x comes out.

I did a bit of research and it seems the FX990 NB can support up to 38 PCIE 2.0 lanes, so I wouldn't run into a bottleneck so much as I thought I would on this, so I could always just throw a 3rd 770 into right now and wait the next comple of months. However, I do want to get my radiators and hoses already and figured I could just water my current rig. But I'm running into a problem, I would have 3x 4GB Elsa 770s *max reported I can find, nothing about new drivers though supporting 4 cards*, The problem though is that all of the water blocks only show ELSA GTX 770 S.A.C 2gb models being supported and no one shows anything about the 4GB cards. and I know I read that some 2GB cards worked while 4GB ones would not anymore. Anyone have any information they could share on this?

 

[King4x4]

imo... Best bet will be the following:
5930k
4-way supported mobo (Rampage V is overkill unless you go crazy)
16gb ram of any kind thats decent
Get 2 used 290x for giggles until the big guns arrive.
Get a 900D
Watercooling DON'T BUY IT WAIT FOR THE BIG GUNS. This current setup will satisfy your itch until it starts again after 6 months and you gonna have some pretty things all ready on the table.

The beauty of the 900D is that it's cheap compared to the big guns and allows for some 480 rads allowing you to cool to your hearts content.

Oh yah... NEVER BUY LED FANS. They are crap on rads unless you spend a lot on some of the better ones that cost nearly double of non led fans.

 

[el etro]

Buy 4x R9 290s for your rig if you want bang per buck. Otherwise pick four GTX 980s.

 

[_UP_]

You can also check out the Phantex Enthoo Primo. It allows for 2*480 and a 280. And is $100 cheaper than the 900D. You can find some very positive reviews (on my phone and too lazy to link).

 

[SantaAna12]

Very cool thread. Budget computing at it's best! Hah!

Makes me think I am on Xtreme.

Love those temps at load Karlitos.

 

[NioNai]

Alright so I've decided to keep the pricing down until the 390 and 980ti hit, I bought 3 used MSI 290 4G cards used which should be a pretty decent improvement over my 770s along with a new 1500w PSU, so I should be set for a while before the new ones come out.

 

[SlickR12345]

In this day and age getting quad core systems is NOT worth it. The prices on high end graphics are still pretty high and thus just getting 4 cards will still costs you $2000 on its own.

Even the 290x which is significantly cheaper now, around 400 euros in my country vs the 550 euros for the 980 would still cost you 1600 euros or that is about $2000 dollars.

For a water cooled system like that you would need to splash out another $500, you'd need to also get super expensive processor to be able to somewhat utilize the graphic cards and it still won't be enough difference.

Most games as you've seen barely come optimized for mainstream hardware, look at Unity, Watch Dogs, Shadow of Mordor, etc... so getting proper quad support is rarely done.

I would not build a system with more than 2x cards, and I still consider it a better option to just get a dual GPU like the AMD 295x these days going around for $900 and save on space, save on cooling, get the best possible supports. You sure as hell aren't going to get better support for dual or more GPU setup.

 

[night.fox]

i dont think 500 is enough for water cooling parts especially for quad 290x's. thats only for blocks actually + backplate. I know for other people, back plate is just bling bling but actually backplate help to cool VRM on 290's. which is essential for overclocking.

I say dont cheap out radiators and fans and pump because you can always reuse those ones. and get a very good case because you can use that for a very very long time.

 

[Creig]

In this day and age getting quad core systems is NOT worth it. The prices on high end graphics are still pretty high and thus just getting 4 cards will still costs you $2000 on its own.

Even the 290x which is significantly cheaper now, around 400 euros in my country vs the 550 euros for the 980 would still cost you 1600 euros or that is about $2000 dollars.

Well, here in the States you can pick up a 290X for around $300 while the 980 is $550. So that makes it $1200 for QuadFire 290X vs $2200 for QuadSLI 980. Throw in the SLI scaling issues and you get the same (if not better) performance at 4K resolution from the Quad 290X than from Quad 980. And you'll save $1,000 by going with the 290X. All of which makes it a no-brainer to choose the 290X.

 

[NioNai]

Well, here in the States you can pick up a 290X for around $300 while the 980 is $550. So that makes it $1200 for QuadFire 290X vs $2200 for QuadSLI 980. Throw in the SLI scaling issues and you get the same (if not better) performance at 4K resolution from the Quad 290X than from Quad 980. And you'll save $1,000 by going with the 290X. All of which makes it a no-brainer to choose the 290X.

I saw all the benchmarks, from a whole lot of sites, and I was going to go with the 290x but after I saw that a at 4k 3 290 cards CF is really only a handful of rames slower slower than 3 290x cards. So I saved about $250 by getting the 290s.

Overall I think the largest gap I saw was about 20fps between 4x 290x vs 4x 290.

 

[Creig]

I agree. Personally, if I were trying to build a multi-GPU liquid cooled system, I would go with three used 290s.

First, you're removing the cooler so you've just voided your warranty anyhow. No sense paying for a warranty you can't use.
Second, due to bitcoin mining rigs being sold off, you can pick up used 290s for around $200.
Third, AMD cards do better at 4K than Nvidia cards.
Fourth, multi-GPU Crossfire is more efficient than multi-GPU SLI.

If it were my money? Three used 290s. That would give you the best bang for your buck. $600 for three used 290s vs $550 for one new 980. And it's obvious which setup would utterly destroy the other at nearly the same cost.

 

[RussianSensation]

I saw all the benchmarks, from a whole lot of sites, and I was going to go with the 290x but after I saw that a at 4k 3 290 cards CF is really only a handful of rames slower slower than 3 290x cards. So I saved about $250 by getting the 290s.

Overall I think the largest gap I saw was about 20fps between 4x 290x vs 4x 290.

Smart choice on 290s over 290Xs as stop-gap cards until GM200/390X and beyond.

"SLI and CrossFire Smoothness

This is an important topic when talking about SLI and CrossFire. In the past, AMD was the one in the hot seat with terrible CrossFire scaling, performance and smoothness. A lot has changed over the last couple of years, AMD now has a frame pacing technology as well as its new XDMA technology. These technologies combined have turned the tables and now CrossFire feels smoother than SLI. It still feels smoother even when compared to NVIDIA's new GTX 980 cards in SLI. While overclocked GTX 980 SLI is faster in framerate, the actual feeling and smoothness in games feels better on AMD Radeon R9 290X. AMD currently has the upper hand in this arena.

There also seems to be some games that scale better on AMD CrossFire. Watch Dogs is a prime example of a game that works great with AMD CrossFire, but for some reason is completely dropping the ball under SLI. In our previous evaluation we also found better CrossFire scaling in Alien: Isolation."
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...980_sli_overclocked_gpu_review/7#.VG0CFfmUfsc

It's going to be hard for people to accept that 2, 3 or 4x 290Xs are better than 980 SLI/Tri-SLI/Quad-SLI since the former setup is nearly 2x cheaper but repeated testing shows this to be true.

If it were my money? Three used 290s. That would give you the best bang for your buck. $600 for three used 290s vs $550 for one new 980. And it's obvious which setup would utterly destroy the other at nearly the same cost.

Dual 290s will level a 980, nevermind 3!