Just did some quick digging to compare against well received cards of the past

AMD 6870 reference cooler temperature and noise levels

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3987/...enewing-competition-in-the-midrange-market/20

R9 290x reference cooler temperature and noise levels

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7457/the-radeon-r9-290x-review/19

R9 290x has much lower power consumption (50%) at idle, and uses approx 100watts more power under load than the 6870.

R9 290x temperatures are 2°C higher at idle, but 20°C higher under gaming load (Crysis vs Crysis 3) which is a huge uplift in temperature, but the GPU has been designed to take it

Crucially, noise wise they are pretty much identical at idle and under load according to those figures.

6870 Reference Idle noise - 41.5 dB
6870 Gaming Load noise - 55.2 dB

R9 290x Reference Idle noise - 41 dB
R9 290x Gaming Load noise - 53.3 dB

Just thought that puts some of it in perspective. Look how noisy an Nvidia 480 was back then!

**UPDATE**

Hynix and Elpida are both just as good as each other.

I took my Elpida card which could only do 5700MHz, flashed the Asus BIOS to it, pumped up the voltage and now the Elpida card is matching with 6600MHz.

So there you go, Elpida, Hynix, it don't matter. What matters is voltage control.

Asus BIOS FTW.

By the way this is an R290 I've flashed with R290X BIOS, works a tread, but shaders not unlocked, but can now hit 1220 core and 6600 RAM on the regular R290 as well. At these speeds this also obliverates Titan. Incredible value!

Blimey. R290 might go down as the best value card in history at this rate

Gibbo said:

By the way this is an R290 I've flashed with R290X BIOS, works a tread, but shaders not unlocked, but can now hit 1220 core and 6600 RAM on the regular R290 as well. At these speeds this also obliverates Titan. Incredible value!

Click to expand...

Question...is the benefit of flashing the 290 to Asus 290x bios just for unlocking higher voltage/control? Does it actually has any benefit comparing to say using MSI Afterburner when it fully support voltage adjustment?

Gibbo said:

P.S. Applying some thermal compound and replacing the AMD stuff helps reduce temps a little and has boosted my core clock from 1060MHz upto 1080-1100MHz region. Now just need new MSI Afterburner with voltage control and we shall be rocking, gotta be 1150-1200MHz core potential on stock cooler with some voltage.

Click to expand...

And does this VOID the warranty in anyway?

Marine-RX179 said:

Question...is the benefit of flashing the 290 to Asus 290x bios just for unlocking higher voltage/control? Does it actually has any benefit comparing to say using MSI Afterburner when it fully support voltage adjustment?

Click to expand...

afterburner if supported seems to have a good successrate and my preference for oc. asus tool works fine for asus bioses and then you need to flash your card.

I rather wait for afterburner to come out with support.

That is interesting, I wonder if the shaders are on the 290s and have simply been locked? That would be AWESOME, I like to dream

I finally replied to the preorder email, please let me know about the hynix though. Even if they clock the same I would rather have the good stuff

TAZOO7 said:

And does this VOID the warranty in anyway?

Click to expand...

He knows the guy who owns the shop so I guess he be fine....
with the warrenty rma.

TAZOO7 said:

And does this VOID the warranty in anyway?

Click to expand...

Not if you bought MSI AND from OcUK

TAZOO7 said:

And does this VOID the warranty in anyway?

Click to expand...

Of course it does.

But these cards are dual BIOS, so you can easily flash the stock BIOS back, so then nobody would ever know.

What we have noticed though, flashing the X BIOS to none X does seem to reduce motherboard compatibility. Using stock BIOS it will boot in any motherboard, using the Asus flashed BIOS it will only boot in Asus motherboard.

Maybe because its an X BIOS and some boards are showing a fault due to shader count not being correct. Soon we will get an Asus none X BIOS, when we do, we shall see if that fixes the in-compatibility issues.

Still its nothing major as you can't go wrong due to the dual BIOS nature of the card.

Facts are you can flash the cards, get voltage control on both X and none X. Things will only improve.

So I could keep my Sapphire r9 290x quiet mode bios at stock and flash the Uber mode bios to Asus

Then if something goes wrong with the card, it's easy to flash it back to Sapphire?

Hmmmmm....

I'm being told the MSI don't have hynix Gibbo, can you confirm this now?

Frenzy said:

I'm being told the MSI don't have hynix Gibbo, can you confirm this now?

Click to expand...

Not arrived yet.

But like I have said, it no longer matters, both RAM types clock the same, it is simply down to BIOS and voltage. I now have Elpida at 6600MHz.

Hey Gibbo check your trust when you get a chance!

I bet You cant wait to get those water blocks in Gibbo

thewanted said:

Before the 90 second mark, he's spoken about the aesthetics and "bum raping performance". The guy is a bit of an idiot to be honest.

Each time I watch one of his reviews, all he cares about is what the component looks like.

Click to expand...

Nothing new there then, i dont even bother watching his so called reviews these days, user reviews are the most important ones

Marine-RX179 said:

Not if you bought MSI AND from OcUK

Click to expand...

Thanks, thats useful to know, cos i have had to redo a few Asus and Palit cards due to poor contact or application of the paste rather than sent it back to the retailer, just wondering as the ASUS cards dont have warranty void stickers on then

Gibbo said:

Of course it does.

Click to expand...

Sorry if i was not clear, but i was referring to the removal of the heat sink in order to use some better paste? but did not know that a bios flash voided warranty either so nice to know also

Im new here so im assuming you work for OCuK?

TAZOO7 said:

Nothing new there then, i dont even bother watching his so called reviews these days, user reviews are the most important ones



Thanks, thats useful to know, cos i have had to redo a few Asus and Palit cards due to poor contact or application of the paste rather than sent it back to the retailer, just wondering as the ASUS cards dont have warranty void stickers on then



Sorry if i was not clear, but i was referring to the removal of the heat sink in order to use some better paste? but did not know that a bios flash voided warranty either so nice to know also

Im new here so im assuming you work for OCuK?

Click to expand...

Removing heatsink is fine as long as you don't damage the card, won't void warranty.

BIOS flashing is at your own risk.

Hi there


Here is the Asus BIOS:-
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/LP/firmware/ASUS_ROM.zip

I am not posting a BIOS flashing guide, you do that at your own risk guys.

TAZOO7 said:

Sorry if i was not clear, but i was referring to the removal of the heat sink in order to use some better paste? but did not know that a bios flash voided warranty either so nice to know also

Im new here so im assuming you work for OCuK?

Click to expand...

Gibbo has been at work since 4:30am ish, so forgive him if he is a little tetchy

You must be knackered by now, Gibbo.