R9 290X Owners Thread

WalderX · 26 Oct 2013 at 09:26

LtMatt said:
I wrote a basic bios flashing guide here if anyone wants to try it and is not sure how. Obviously don't use the bios links here though, unless you want to flash a HIS 7950 Ice-Q bios to your cards.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18544020

Lovely, thanks

VincentHanna said:
Mines a Sapphire as well by the way.

Can you confirm if your fan ever goes above 40% in either mode?

Yes, I am running both Heaven & Valley in 720p windowed mode, ultra quality as we speak, just to really tax the gpu and so I can easily monitor AMD OverDrive window. Both benchamarks are fluctuating between 60 - 90 FPS each, GPU Activity is 100%, GPU clock is 1000MHz (dropping to 940/840/740 occasionally for a few seconds), MEM is solid at 1250MHz, temp has settled on 92 now, fan reading at 45%. I am running in uber mode and have 'Target GPU Temperature' set at the default of 95 and 'Maximum Fan Speed' pushed up to 100% ceiling. I haven't touched any of the power limit or clock settings, they are all on 0%

Zeed · 26 Oct 2013 at 09:42

WalderX Looks like Sapphire cards are low on core volts. And anything pass 1050 gives me artefacts :/
I got my far running at 100% even with msi

You dont want to hear that ****er mate its almost as loud as my food blender NOT JOKING

MjFrosty where do you dissable aeor in windows 8.1 ??

Video of card at 55% fan open case.

LtMatt · 26 Oct 2013 at 09:57

55% sounds fine to me. I'm sure once you get past 60% though its unbearable. That's how it was on my 7970 reference anyway.

Gibbo · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:01

WalderX said:
Has anyone with an ASUS card got this 100% gpu usage issue? Just wondering as Gibbo reports it is a superior bios and has fully unlocked voltages etc. Both me and Lord_Zed have this issue on sapphire cards. I'd like to flash to the Asus bios to see if this resolves it but not sure how? I've been out of the Radeon market since the X1950!

I've used Sapphire on stock bios and Asus, no problems with either BIOS at idle or load.

Changing bios switch seems to make little to no difference.

I tested with Windows 7 and drivers on CD, zero issues. Windows 8.1 is less than a week old and drivers are beta, bound to be some issues there.

Best way with these cards is to use overdrive and use following settings.
Power +50
GPU temperature target 90c
Maximum fan speed 70%

That should keep temps below 85c and not get too loud, off course case and ambient cooling will be a big factor.

Stock bios and voltage you'll get upto 5% over clock on core and upto 10-20% on memory.

The Asus BIOS and GPU tweak give a lot more OC headroom and ability to cool card more along with manual fan control. With this I'd use:-
1000 core
1225mv reduced from 1250mv
5500 memory
Fan set too 50%

That should keep things sub 80c always unless your ambient temps are very high or case cooling poor.

tribz · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:02

Lord_ZED said:
of messing about.
So far only working solution i found is MSI Afterburner
i got 1 profile for 2d with lowest possible clocks and second profile for 3d with 1050/1600 settings.

Is it normal to get artefacts @1050 core around 90c ??

lukext will try with it disabled.
Update memory clock still jumps up and down.

My cores fine at 1125 but memory goes funny at abover 1500. Not tested exactly where it goes but setting it to 1575 caused insta screen flicker. I'd try dropping your memory down a bit.

Ragnahex · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:10

3 hours till delivery then i get to play around problem solving... i don't learn i always buy amd cards just released. it all adds to the fun

LtMatt · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:10

tribz said:
My cores fine at 1125 but memory goes funny at abover 1500. Not tested exactly where it goes but setting it to 1575 caused insta screen flicker. I'd try dropping your memory down a bit.

Good stuff tribz. Elpida or Hynix?

Boomstick777 · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:18

darket said:
The initial benches i have run are impressive for the money, the cards feel heavy and well made and dont show any flex in the pci slot which is very welcome

My 2 sapphires sit happily at 1050 mhz and 1400 on the memory happily so far at stock volts.

However it's as hot and as loud as people are saying , i'm having issues with the cards being at 100% load at idle , and no its not a bit coin virus , just removed a 7970 with no issues so its most likely a driver issue.

I'm in two minds really , on one end of the scale its a very powerful card and performs well , on the other it feels like underwhelming chip pushed to its limits with dreadful drivers.

Coincidentally just as i'm writing this my screen went blank for a few seconds and one / both of the cards is making a nasty screeching noise and the aero interface went to classic mode , no no , the screens gone blank again and the fans are roaring, no no its ok , screen back and aero back again.

So right now im unsure, but somethings telling me NOT to redem my BF4 codes any time soon .............

Thanks for the honest comments their bud. I really like the 290X, the only putting me off atm is heat. I'm thinking I may get one for my main PC and give my 780 to my boys. It's either a non 290X of GTX 780ti. Because I mainly play Battlefield, I'm leaning towards the 290X atm. Got a feeling the non ref Sapphire's, Gigabyte and Asus cards are going to be awesome.

Jono8 · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:19

Glad i cancelled my pre order now after hearing these reports.

Before i get jumped on, i am not saying early adopter issues are unique to this card or AMD or any other card/brand that someone might feel attached to

VincentHanna · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:20

Anyone having this problem? Anytime I switch the primary display around or start a game, the displays take forever to switch

VincentHanna · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:21

scrivz69 · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:33

VincentHanna said:
Anyone having this problem? Anytime I switch the primary display around or start a game, the displays take forever to switch

Fixed for you.

Edit, looks like you got it sorted.

VincentHanna · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:41

That doesn't happen immediately after I turn on the PC, only when the GPU core clock is at 1000mhz.

Which it always is within 1 minute of switching the PC on...

Just fiddled with overdrive. Fan is now at 55% and card doesn't seem to throttle much, if at all. Running heaven 4.0 as I type to see how that affects my score...

Zeed · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:42

tribz memory has no effect i get artefacts pass 1050 asus flash time i think

LtMatt thats why i set limit to 55% above that is a hair dryer

LtMatt · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:45

Lord_ZED said:
tribz memory has no effect i get artefacts pass 1050 asus flash time i think

LtMatt thats why i set limit to 55% above that is a hair dryer

Yeah as i expected. 55% sounds fine to me tbh and sounds like my ice-q's. How are temps at 55%?

VincentHanna · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:48

Apologies for the size of the screenshot, but 55% stops practically all the throttling. Score has jumped up by 200.

Annoyed that some get these scores on quiet mode and I have to push it up to 55% though, it is quite loud at those levels!

Zeed · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:50

55% is where this card needs to work i think 92-93 does not throttle.

VincentHanna · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:53

Still doesn't solve my screen switching issue.

Nobody else here with 2 displays that take an age to switch over? Even when I start Heaven it takes about 1 minute to start and I don't even see the splash screen like I used to.

LtMatt · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:57

Looks like its going to take some time for people to figure out how to get the best from this, without throttling and what not. All this tweaking sounds right up my street.

uksoldierboy · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:59

1 hr left until it's here