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Is the AMD Radeon R9 290X too hot?

The way I see it, its not really a hot card, it just has a weak reference cooler (allegedly the 7970 cooler repackaged), power consumption wise it's almost on par with the GTX690 however it's not *that* far ahead of the 7970GE/Titan (about ~30w), and when you consider that the hotter a GPU runs the more energy it consumes, if it had a better cooler it would probably be much closer to the 7970GE/Titan.

All in all I say it's not a lava GPU issue it's a weaksauce reference cooler issue and the Windforce/ACX/Lightning/etc models should fare a lot better on temps, noise and overclocking potential.
 
ubersonic said:
The way I see it, its not really a hot card, it just has a weak reference cooler (allegedly the 7970 cooler repackaged), power consumption wise it's almost on par with the GTX690 however it's not *that* far ahead of the 7970GE/Titan (about ~30w), and when you consider that the hotter a GPU runs the more energy it consumes, if it had a better cooler it would probably be much closer to the 7970GE/Titan.

All in all I say it's not a lava GPU issue it's a weaksauce reference cooler issue and the Windforce/ACX/Lightning/etc models should fare a lot better on temps, noise and overclocking potential.
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It is actually a very good cooler for getting rid of the heat, the problem is it is also very noisy when running at high speed.

When benching and overvolting with the cooler turned up the cards don't get anywhere near 95c.
 
Kaapstad said:
It is actually a very good cooler for getting rid of the heat, the problem is it is also very noisy when running at high speed.

When benching and overvolting with the cooler turned up the cards don't get anywhere near 95c.
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But isn't that kind of like saying "this shoe isn't too small, we just need to cut your toes off", yes it will work but the side effect isn't very desirable. Personally I think a cooler should be able to maintain adequate temps and noise levels at the same time, not force the user to choose, like I said though the issue should be fixed with 3rd party coolers.
 
The results from the Prolimatech thread show that the cooler, while it may be just about adequate at stock, isn't very good. I didn't expect it to be though, AMD seems to prefer the partners to stick on proper cooling and leaves the reference ones for water cooling.
 
ubersonic said:
But isn't that kind of like saying "this shoe isn't too small, we just need to cut your toes off", yes it will work but the side effect isn't very desirable. Personally I think a cooler should be able to maintain adequate temps and noise levels at the same time, not force the user to choose, like I said though the issue should be fixed with 3rd party coolers.
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It can. In fact (this is 100% honest) when I did my first couple of runs in Heaven / 3D Mark I was worried the fan wasn't kicking in. (Had it set to max out at 55%)

I think the fact that AMD give you all the tweak freedom also opens up a can of worms to what is too hot and what isn't. It's honestly not that bad out of the box.

The 780 / Titan coolers can get fairly loud also. To avoid throttling in SLi with a more aggressive fan profile and higher thermal limit it's not exactly the most pleasant experience, and you don't see anyone moaning about that.
 
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uksoldierboy said:
I just played around 1hr of Crysis 3, max details, max card temp was 76c with the fan @55 (can't be heard while gaming and isn't that loud at all)

Like i said previously, all this talk of running at 95c is wrong at least from what i'm experiencing, maybe if i looped benchmarks for hours it would, but so far after benchmarking the crap out of it and gaming, it's not even close.
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I'm thinking about getting 2x R290X when they will be back in stock do you think it's still worth it? or cause of nvidia drop in prices it's better to go with invidia? I'll be putting waterblock on 290x later on this year anyway so heat is not the problem my question is will i be able to get 2x 290x and play BF4 on max and enjoy it?

this is performance question in crossfire.
 
So a different story is emerging from users of these cards compared to all the media. Weird. Why might this be?
 
Scougar said:
So a different story is emerging from users of these cards compared to all the media. Weird. Why might this be?
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Most review sites touch on the coolers noise and temps, as they're not as good as they could be. They don't outright say it's unacceptable. The thing seems to be on here as soon as there is a mention of the cooler and it isn't praise, a lot of users are quick to jump down peoples throats.
 
sieze2 said:
If two different cards are both running the same wattage (TDP), and both are holding a constant temperature, then I can assure you they are both generating the same amount of heat, irrespective of the GPU temperature.

For example: if one card GPU runs at a constant 95 degrees @ 250 watts and another card GPU at 65 degrees @ 250 watts then they are both creating 250 watts of heat.

The misconception of a hot GPU generating more heat than a cold running GPU is nonsense. They both generate the same amount of heat.
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This, keep seeing the "it's making everything else hotter" line spouted. If it was moving the heat everywhere else it'd not be so hot itself ;) it's just how hot it gets before heat generated = heat dissipated.... the heat going into the case is the heat generated regardless of the temperature required to reach this equilibrium.

Edit: Not just about the 290x, I've heard it about lots of parts. Note this is a different (independent) discussion from the rear-venting vs. case venting argument which cares about where that energy goes, not how much of it there is.
 
sieze2 said:
If two different cards are both running the same wattage (TDP), and both are holding a constant temperature, then I can assure you they are both generating the same amount of heat, irrespective of the GPU temperature.

For example: if one card GPU runs at a constant 95 degrees @ 250 watts and another card GPU at 65 degrees @ 250 watts then they are both creating 250 watts of heat.

The misconception of a hot GPU generating more heat than a cold running GPU is nonsense. They both generate the same amount of heat.
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They are not the same though are they?

The fact is 290X consumes more power and needs more cooling so this point is largely irrelevant, Titan is rated at 250W TDP whereas AMD haven't even released an official figure for 290X (I wonder why?) but the unofficial figure is around 300W.

So not only do NVidia's cards consume less power but the reference cooler they designed for it disperses heat away from the components (which is what a cooler is designed to do) much more efficiently.

The point about 290X running so hot is mainly that even AMD fans are saying "wait for the non-reference coolers to get better cooling", but as none of them are blower designs that just means you have 300W of heat being ejected into the case rather than out the back. With NVidia you can have the best of everything, low temps, quiet fan & heat being taken away from the rest of your components... with AMD's £450 cards you have to compromise.

Scougar said:
So a different story is emerging from users of these cards compared to all the media. Weird. Why might this be?
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Someone who spends £450 is less likely to be critical perhaps? opposed to someone who gets something for free.
 
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sieze2 said:
If two different cards are both running the same wattage (TDP), and both are holding a constant temperature, then I can assure you they are both generating the same amount of heat, irrespective of the GPU temperature.

For example: if one card GPU runs at a constant 95 degrees @ 250 watts and another card GPU at 65 degrees @ 250 watts then they are both creating 250 watts of heat.

The misconception of a hot GPU generating more heat than a cold running GPU is nonsense. They both generate the same amount of heat.
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Correct and the only difference is the cooler not drawing the heat away as fast as the other and in fact the 65 degrees card is heating up the case faster if both cards expel directly into the case.
 
mmj_uk said:
They are not the same though are they?

The fact is 290X consumes more power and needs more cooling so this point is largely irrelevant, Titan is rated at 250W TDP whereas AMD haven't even released an official figure for 290X (I wonder why?) but the unofficial figure is around 300W.
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Since it runs on 6pin+8pin its going to be nearer to 250w - 300w+ cards are usually 2 x 8pin solutions.

I have one and its no worse than my day-on 7970 was - sure in benchmarking it can be noisy, but that is hardly a 24x7 operation unless thats all you use them for. I can only echo what soldier and kaap/others have said - its fine. If you haven't got one don't worry - and if you're never going to want one, please stop parrotting the same old tosh that has been refuted by those who have one.

In normal operation/gaming the card is fine. AMD have little room to innovate on better coolers as they need to leave some margin for the partners to innovate/differentiate themselves on cooler/higher performance levels. It could be better than it is but not much without upsetting the partners. Out of the box, the card is exactly what/where I expected it to be. Its no more noticeable than my H100i 240mm radiator on its not-highest setting.

Also probably 90-95% of this heat is expelled out the back of the PC - there will be some "diffusion" into the chassis by contact with the back of the card but the majority will go out the back like its designed to do. If anything most of the aftermarket coolers will make this worse as all I seem most of them do is strap two big-assed fans and a bit of a shroud to keep fingers out onto a heat-sink to move air over the latter and into the case. No ducting to force it out of the chassis.
 
MDPlatts said:
AMD have little room to innovate on better coolers as they need to leave some margin for the partners to innovate/differentiate themselves on cooler/higher performance levels. It could be better than it is but not much without upsetting the partners.
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Personally I think the idea that AMD consciously let their reference coolers be poor so everyone can be wowed by the AIB's efforts is absolute rubbish. Really realistically if you think about it it's more likely they recycle the same poor cooler to save costs.
 
Final8y said:
Correct and the only difference is the cooler not drawing the heat away as fast as the other and in fact the 65 degrees card is heating up the case faster if both cards expel directly into the case.
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Exactly, the efficiency of the cooler is the speed it can remove heat from the chip.

mmj_uk said:
They are not the same though are they?

The fact is 290X consumes more power and needs more cooling so this point is largely irrelevant, Titan is rated at 250W TDP whereas AMD haven't even released an official figure for 290X (I wonder why?) but the unofficial figure is around 300W.

So not only do NVidia's cards consume less power but the reference cooler they designed for it disperses heat away from the components (which is what a cooler is designed to do) much more efficiently.

The point about 290X running so hot is mainly that even AMD fans are saying "wait for the non-reference coolers to get better cooling", but as none of them are blower designs that just means you have 300W of heat being ejected into the case rather than out the back. With NVidia you can have the best of everything, low temps, quiet fan & heat being taken away from the rest of your components... with AMD's £450 cards you have to compromise.
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Good points, and totally fair. Having a blower design is better, but there's always exhaust fans in the case. I have no idea what the measurable difference is between the two, but there will be one.

David Bisset said:
it's just how hot it gets before heat generated = heat dissipated.... the heat going into the case is the heat generated regardless of the temperature required to reach this equilibrium.
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You are right a hotter chip is storing heat compared to the cooler chip, but the heat generated by both is still the same if the wattage of both is the same. Its easiest to grasp if both the chips are at their peak temperature and look at the heat generated minute by minute.

At the end of the day all electronics are designed to operate within a temperature range. Its arguably more damaging when they keep heating up and cooling down.
 
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