R9 290 & 290x Owners thread.

[wand3r3r]

Multi custom card would not work with these cards heat. Reference was the only option to get most of the heat out.

 

[Adampa1006]

I have a 290x. How do I know which position is Uber mode? I didn't see anything in the documentation. Also, I'm loving it so far obviously, Metro LL looks amazing.

 

[Kenmitch]

I have a 290x. How do I know which position is Uber mode? I didn't see anything in the documentation. Also, I'm loving it so far obviously, Metro LL looks amazing.

Cards ship in quiet mode which is switch position closest to video out ports.

 

[RaulF]

I have a 290x. How do I know which position is Uber mode? I didn't see anything in the documentation. Also, I'm loving it so far obviously, Metro LL looks amazing.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_review_benchmarks,15.html

 

[el etro]

Actually I think the comparisons are coming from the new reference nvidia cooler.

Seems legit. But if you compare the r9 290 noise with a reference GTX 670 cooler, you will know that the Radeon is no much more noisy than the GeForce.

 

[Silverforce11]

Reference fans, crossfire at 55% fanspeed was fine inside my case. Definitely classed as loud but tolerable. Mining needed 70% fanspeed at which point it was ridiculously loud and no longer tolerable.

I did use a reference gtx670, in gaming the 670 was definitely much less noisy than R290 at 55% fanspeed. Obviously single card R290 at 47% fan would be much more tolerable, but it will throttle in crossfire config without at least 55% fan.

What is really misleading is after awhile you find that the top exhaust on the R290/X design actually dumps a LOT of heat inside your case, if airflow is poor, that exhaust hits the side panels and gets recycled by the blower. It's a stupid blower design for this reason alone, since people who go after blowers expect nearly all the heat to be dumped OUT the case.

 

[blastingcap]

Reference fans, crossfire at 55% fanspeed was fine inside my case. Definitely classed as loud but tolerable. Mining needed 70% fanspeed at which point it was ridiculously loud and no longer tolerable.

I did use a reference gtx670, in gaming the 670 was definitely much less noisy than R290 at 55% fanspeed. Obviously single card R290 at 47% fan would be much more tolerable, but it will throttle in crossfire config without at least 55% fan.

What is really misleading is after awhile you find that the top exhaust on the R290/X design actually dumps a LOT of heat inside your case, if airflow is poor, that exhaust hits the side panels and gets recycled by the blower. It's a stupid blower design for this reason alone, since people who go after blowers expect nearly all the heat to be dumped OUT the case.

I dunno, it looks like the blowers are exhausting most of their heat out the back to me. http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,6.html

 

[wand3r3r]

I'm curious, I'll open my case one of these days and try feel if and how much warm air is coming into the case.

 

[jason166]

From someone who wants to join the club....

Where / When did you buy your R9 290? I've got some amazon credit to spend but even the 290s, (not x) are selling for over $550.

Any speculation when supply will pick up / prices will come down ?

I understand it's because of the crypto currency demand, but it's really frustating... I went through the same thing with wanting to buy another 5850 back in the day.

Doesn't it seem like AMD is leaving a crapload of money on the table right now? How is it they barely make any money with this crazy demand.

Jason

 

[Silverforce11]

I dunno, it looks like the blowers are exhausting most of their heat out the back to me. http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,6.html

This is where its misleading, you have to own these cards and put your hands near it to really feel the rush of hot air.

Look at the image:

Right where M2 label is, that top exhaust dumps around 1/3 of the heat back into the case.

There's reports of users who removed the grills in the rear, just an open rectangle cut in the bracket, they had a massive temp drop since more hot air gets pushed out and not back in the case for recycling. It's a horrible blower design.

 

[Gloomy]

I'll try a little duct tape over it later.

 

[Silverforce11]

I'll try a little duct tape over it later.

Do try it and tell us if it helps.. but i get a feeling the bracket with its small grill section is not enough to sustain the high air flow, so a lot of the flow gets pushed up through the grill exhaust on top, if you block it, air will just find the least resistance and flow up or down under the shroud.. its not gonna be pretty.

 

[thilanliyan]

Right where M2 label is, that top exhaust dumps around 1/3 of the heat back into the case.

Isn't that just the metal plate covering the RAM, VRM, etc? Is there actually an exhaust there?

 

[Silverforce11]

There certainly is

 

[KaRLiToS]

There is a solution for those crappy reference blowers... waterblocks (Or Custom cards of course)

 

[24601]

One of my 290s throttles a tiny bit (constantly) @ 100% fan speed with Asus PT1 bios.

The cooler is total trash and people who say otherwise aren't fooling anyone.

(Awaiting the BS from people trying to fool me when I >>own three of them<<)

 

[blastingcap]

Or your case and/or case fans are total trash. Just saying.

 

[24601]

Or your case and/or case fans are total trash. Just saying.

Not going to rehash the same argument I have had with this forum about my 7950s, 7970s, and now 290s.

PS, my Sunon intake fans beg to differ.

Delta Screamers activate

 

[chimaxi83]

One of my 290s throttles a tiny bit (constantly) @ 100% fan speed with Asus PT1 bios.

The cooler is total trash and people who say otherwise aren't fooling anyone.

(Awaiting the BS from people trying to fool me when I >>own three of them<<)

Before slapping water blocks on my cards, there was zero throttle at 100% fan speed, using both PT1 and PT3 bios. They only throttled at the temp limit that all of us already know.

That being said, the cooler is inadequate trash. I agree.

 

[24601]

Before slapping water blocks on my cards, there was zero throttle at 100% fan speed, using both PT1 and PT3 bios. They only throttled at the temp limit that all of us already know.

That being said, the cooler is inadequate trash. I agree.

I'm mining at maximum theoretical hash rate possible for 1000 core speed on each card as per my sig. Most people don't.

 

[blastingcap]

Why are people still buying reference cards when there are ones with the manufacturer signature cooler on them. Gigabyte's Windforce 3X version of 290X is getting some pretty damn good results.

Ref is cheaper and is actually not that bad for gaming. Mining is a heavier load, especially overclocked/overvolted mining, but for gaming, ~50% fan speed isn't that noisy and will prevent most if not all throttling. Also, ref design is better for ejecting heat out the back instead of blowing it all over the inside of the case. This means Crossfire might be better with 2 ref cards than 2 non-ref cards, especially for cases/fans that aren't top-notch at cooling.

 

[wand3r3r]

With 65% fan one 290x is throttling, the other's comfortably below the temp limit for me. I need to investigate if I can do anything about it. I have several case fans, but mostly quiet noctua/fractal ones which I'm not even sure if they are running at full potential or in quiet mode. I added 2 but they hardly seem to actually move air.

The stock cooler is probably adequate with less fan speed for a single card with a case and fans like I have, but in crossfire it requires additional cooling for mining. Gaming would be easier to maintain temperatures based on what I'm seeing (with 65% but probably with less even in crossfire).

 

[wand3r3r]

Reference fans, crossfire at 55% fanspeed was fine inside my case. Definitely classed as loud but tolerable. Mining needed 70% fanspeed at which point it was ridiculously loud and no longer tolerable.

I did use a reference gtx670, in gaming the 670 was definitely much less noisy than R290 at 55% fanspeed. Obviously single card R290 at 47% fan would be much more tolerable, but it will throttle in crossfire config without at least 55% fan.

What is really misleading is after awhile you find that the top exhaust on the R290/X design actually dumps a LOT of heat inside your case, if airflow is poor, that exhaust hits the side panels and gets recycled by the blower. It's a stupid blower design for this reason alone, since people who go after blowers expect nearly all the heat to be dumped OUT the case.

The holes you were referring to.

When I had my case open, there was noticeable heat radiating out of them and the area was warm. It wasn't blowing out with nearly the pressure that goes out the back, but a fair amount of hot air was coming out (strange design). I wonder if you have positive pressure thereby have good airflow and pressure aiming out, if it reduces the heat sitting in the case.

After I found that (thanks!) I put my second "extra" case fan aiming down the cards from the HDD bay and my temps are a little lower.

 

[wand3r3r]

There isn't any heat coming out of the little holes on the end of the card where the power cables are connected and the fan is (the little design holes). I was wondering about that.

 

[wand3r3r]

I ended up trying an open bench but the cards were pretty wobbly so I dropped them back in the case and did a little cable mgmt...

BF4 64 player stats for a little while. It was the Operation locker map.
I'm wondering if it logs GPU memory usage correctly 3.8 GB is pretty high!

The FPS were 100-200 FPS the whole time, and the core was pegged on both cards without throttling at 44% and 51% fan speeds. GPU usage varied quite a bit.

It's using right around 600 watts.