290 (non-X) Crossfire - should I?

[Confused Stu]

Hi everyone.

Couple of weeks ago, both my 7970s died. I'm awaiting an answer from MSI as to whether I killed one of them after changing the cooler (it ran fine for 48hrs) but I've now been refunded £450 for my other, launch week, card.

The sensible thing would be to wait until MSI get back to me as to whether they'll replace my 7970 or not, but that could still be 3 weeks away and I'm missing gaming too much to wait!

I am thinking of ordering 2 x R9 290's and wondered if anyone could come up with a reason not to. I could get a single 290X, but that would mean a downgrade in grunt and I couldn't afford a second, even after selling the replacement 7970 if the RMA is authorised. I could go back down the 7970 CF or even 7990 route, but I play at 5760x1080 and crossfire frame pacing has yet to hit the 7xxx series (I know the update driver is due in the next month but I haven't even heard of anyone seeing it in action, so I'm a little sceptical). Crossfire, Eyefinity and frame pacing already work perfectly on the 290 series.

By selling a replacement 7970 I can cover the price of two 290's, and if the RMA is disallowed, selling the faulty GPU on the Bay will still cover most of the cost.

I'm hoping my XFX 750W PSU will cope with 2 x 290's, at least at stock. I used to pull 600W from the wall using my 7970s overclocked to 1050/1500, so at 80%ish efficiency I should have the headroom.

I could wait for custom cooled 290's, but they're likely to be more expensive than stock, and both crossfire and the rotated arrangement of my RV03 case tend to favour the stock coolers over those that circulate air into the case.

I've pretty much made my mind up, but can anyone come up with any reason I shouldn't buy now? I've already got BF4, so not bothered about the new game bundles coming and Gibbo hinted card prices will go up because of the games too, so now seems a good time to buy.

Any thoughts/comments/objections?

 

[Orangey]

I would wait and see how much these custom coolers add on to the price. They're already so cheap... even adding another 30 quid, xfire would still be very attractive.

 

[JediFragger]

290 Crossfire seems very good value at the moment for very high resolution gaming, very tempted myself but not sure I could live with the noise they'd generate...

 

[Confused Stu]

I would wait and see how much these custom coolers add on to the price. They're already so cheap... even adding another 30 quid, xfire would still be very attractive.

Waiting is definitely the sensible option, but waiting doesn't help my need for shiny new toys now! It's very odd and disheartening going back to gaming on 1 screen and having to drop settings while my 5770 CF stands in for the departed 7970 CF.

290 Crossfire seems very good value at the moment for very high resolution gaming, very tempted myself but not sure I could live with the noise they'd generate...

Yeah, the noise is the only reason I haven't clicked "buy" tonight. That said, if I wait for the inevitable Frozr/Windforce/etc model, will I really want 95C air being recirculated into my PC rather than chucked straight out of the case?

Just had a thought - I'm running a four screen set up (gaming on 3, monitoring/emails on the other). Will I still be able to do that on the 290? With the 5xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx series you could only use 2 DVI/HDMI or VGA ports and had to use DP for the remaining screens. The 290 only has 1 DP output. Does anyone know if I can use all four outputs at the same time on the 290 (DVI/DVI/HDMI/DP), or will I need to get a hub to run two screens off the DP output?

 

[flopper]

Yeah, the noise is the only reason I haven't clicked "buy" tonight. That said, if I wait for the inevitable Frozr/Windforce/etc model, will I really want 95C air being recirculated into my PC rather than chucked straight out of the case?

Noise is way less than my reference 7970.

 

[Confused Stu]

Noise is way less than my reference 7970.

If that's the case, then I know I can live with it. If I get sick of the noise further down the line then I'll go down the Accelero route. Just going to wait to see if OcUK do a Today Only on a 290 (you never know) and I'll get the two ordered later.

I really don't require much persuading when it comes to new, shiny and fast things.

 

[LtMatt]

Stu, if you haven't already check your email!

How are you getting on with 290 crossfire?

 

[weewyum]

Also very interested in this compared to a 7990. I game at 1440p and I'm not sure a single 290 would have the grunt to cope. How high can they be overclocked under water?

 

[flopper]

Also very interested in this compared to a 7990. I game at 1440p and I'm not sure a single 290 would have the grunt to cope. How high can they be overclocked under water?

1150-1220mhz or so
check your psu is up for it though.

 

[Confused Stu]

Stu, if you haven't already check your email!

How are you getting on with 290 crossfire?

Sorry, been largely away from internet for a couple of days, so hadn't seen your message(s).

Getting on really well with the 290's, it's so much smoother than my 7970's were. I am assuming this is because I now have frame pacing where I didn't before (Eyefinity user) but Just Cause 2 is visually smoother than previously even though both setups were running 80+ FPS. I genuinely didn't realise the game was that smooth and now wonder how I didn't notice the slight stuttering before and how I ever put up with it.

The cards are obviously hotter than my 7970's, but then my 7970's got to 80C/60C (Windforce, then later Twin Frozr on first, Accelero on second) where my 290's sit at 90C-94C. However, this is just a result of the different philosophy with regard to GPU cooling and I simply needed to get my head around that they're designed to run at that temperature and it's not going to harm the card. Once I got used to that, it's not bothered me. Also, thanks to my 290's running the stock cooler, all the hot air is ejected out of the case so my CPU and HDDs are actually running a few degrees cooler than with my 7970's, which is nice.

Noise is very definitely different to my 7970's. At idle, the 290's are actually quieter than my 7970's were - the Accelero was silent, but both Windforce and Twin Frozr were noticeable over my case fans even at idle. Any noise at idle really bothers me, so this is a brilliant and unexpected result for me. Under load, the 290s are much louder than my previous setup, but the only time it's under load is when I'm gaming, and as I only play action games it genuinely doesn't bother me and I don't notice it unless I hit a quiet bit in the game and I listen for it - I find the noise very easy to tune out. It's a bit like a car - I don't want a car that's loud at idle/round town, but I'm quite happy with a fair amount of wind noise when running at high speed.

The throttling annoyed me, not because it happened a lot (it didn't) but simply that I want my cards to run at the speed I've set, not slower. I simply changed the maximum allowable fan speed in CCC to be 100%. The cards never seem to go above 50%-55%, and certainly aren't distracting for me at those speeds, but now the cards stick on 947MHz the whole time. I've certainly not found the cards to be anywhere near as loud as some reviews and very forum post lead me to expect - don't know if a little of that could be down to the RV03 though as it does seem to work with stock coolers very well.

I haven't tried overclocking my cards yet or played with the coolers, as after the scare of breaking my 7970s and being without a PC for a couple of weeks, I'm a little gunshy now. I'm sure I will overclock and start messing with my cards soon, but at the moment I haven't run into a game that needs the extra speed and am just enjoying playing my games rather than chasing benchies. That said, a couple of days ago I popped on a small 6% overclock simply to round the clock speed to 1000MHz because my OCD was happier with the rounder number, so I'm already heading down that slippery slope.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with my change from 7970's to 290's. However, if you're bothered by noise under load, I definitely wouldn't recommend them unless you're watercooling or changing the coolers to Accelero's/etc. I also never really measured the performance gain (my 7970's died unexpectedly so I couldn't do a proper before and after) so not sure if the improvement would be worth the money. I also don't know if the difference would be quite as night and day as it has been if AMD had actually released frame pacing drivers for the 7970's in Eyefinity while I had them. All in all though, for my setup and personal preferences, I am very, very glad I went with the 290's and am happy with the performance of the cards and even the stock coolers.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the 290's mate. I'm sure they'll be a lot more thought out and backed up with facts and benchies than my aimless meanderings.