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2x or 3x 290X? {Shines the AMDMatt Signal}

RobHague

RobHague

RobHague

Associate
Joined
26 Jun 2008
Posts
438
So I need something for my new system (5820K) as FarCry 4 is coming and so is Dragon Age! I have caught wind of possible 390s or a new Titan. So I'm just going to hold off on the big all out purchase.

I was kind of eyeing the 295X2 as a solution. Single card. Two GPUs. Looks pretty darn awesome too.

But I just saw 290Xs on OcUK though for £230! Crossfire? That could work! But I've been away from AMD for a while now. How would reference 290Xs run side by side in a well cooled case? Would I be ok. Tbh I would mostly worry about its effect on the rest of the system. Would my 860W be enough? How about 3-way..... Would that be pushing it?

Backstory....

I was having major hassles with my NZXT case and SLI. Cooling basically. It was disappointing as it was a new build. But I just got done switching out my case for a Carbide Air 540. So fingers crossed my cooling woes are gone now anyway.... Why didn't I do that befo.... Meh whatever :rolleyes just put it down to stress (rough month).
 
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Now either AMDMatt really does have a Matt signal or he's so addicted to OCUK that he checks it on his phone at service stations just outside Bristol.
 
I have two 290s and they do get a bit warm (tri x so they dump heat into the case), but 820w would be very tight for three cards and I would feel very uneasy with that. Besides, my two cards aren't even pushed at 1440p
 
RobHague said:
So I need something for my new system (5820K) as FarCry 4 is coming and so is Dragon Age! I have caught wind of possible 390s or a new Titan. So I'm just going to hold off on the big all out purchase.

I was kind of eyeing the 295X2 as a solution. Single card. Two GPUs. Looks pretty darn awesome too.

But I just saw 290Xs on OcUK though for £230! Crossfire? That could work! But I've been away from AMD for a while now. How would reference 290Xs run side by side in a well cooled case? Would I be ok. Tbh I would mostly worry about its effect on the rest of the system. Would my 860W be enough? How about 3-way..... Would that be pushing it?

Backstory....

I was having major hassles with my NZXT case and SLI. Cooling basically. It was disappointing as it was a new build. But I just got done switching out my case for a Carbide Air 540. So fingers crossed my cooling woes are gone now anyway.... Why didn't I do that befo.... Meh whatever :rolleyes just put it down to stress (rough month).
Click to expand...

Hi Rob,

Thanks for your patience and sorry to hear of your previous issues with your old hardware.

Reference cooled 290X cards work well together in a case, i know this as i use them predominantly myself. What must be said is the 295x2 would offer you a quieter and cooler experience, however it's not hard not to be blown away when you look at the sheer amount of horsepower 2x290X cards offer you for such little money. If silence and low running temps are important to you, then I'd be looking at a single 295x2 as it's got it all. If you don't mind a bit of extra fan noise, slightly higher running temps and money is an important factor given your eye on the future, then the only sensible choice is a couple of 290X cards. I don't know how familiar you are with the reference cards from AMD, but i will explain briefly how it works.

You have a temp and fan target in CCC. The default is 94c temp target and 55%-57% fan target. What this means in practice is the gpu remains very quiet until the temp reaches 85c+. At this point the fan begins to ramp up slowly. As the temperature approaches 93-94c the fan moves up to the minimum amount of fan speed required to keep the gpu at the target temp. If the gpu is unable to keep the temperature at the target temp set using the target fan speed then the core clock and voltage will drop slightly in order to maintain that. Naturally you can set a lower temp target if you desire, you don't have to run it at 94c.

Finally AMD have some great gaming bundles with their cards at the moment, so that is definitely worth considering too. One thing i can promise you..., AMD games are exceptionally well optimised so you can be sure you'll be getting smooth gaming performance in Crossfire at any resolution using Alien Isolation, Sniper Elite V3, Murdered Soul Suspect, Civilization Beyond Earth to name just a few titles from the Gaming Evolved program. Crossfire has never performed as well as it does today and is the go to solution these days for gamers looking for excellent scaling and minimal microstutter when using more than one graphics card.

FInally 860W should be enough to power 2x290X cards. For three you'll be needing a faster psu. I'd be looking at a quality 1000W-1200W Superflower PSU if i was you.

Does that help? :)
 
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Zq60W1E.png


Best I could do XD

EDIT: Oh thanks ^_^ yes thats quite helpful I wasnt aware of that with the cards temp target. So 94*c is an acceptable temperature for ATI cards? I thought that was around the point where NVIDIA cards melt so good to know :)

Would a Corsair 860W be enough for both the 2x 290X and 295X2? Would it be pushing it to go for 3-way Crossfire? 3 x 290X for 4k/144fps at 1440p? I guess I may need something in the 1000w+ range? I do wear headphones so noise isnt a *big* issue while gaming as long as it does not sound a like a hoover =] hehe. Thanks for the advise. 2x 290Xs come out at the same price as a single 980. So thats quite a great deal in terms of performance. Should hold me till future ATI cards appear =]

P.S - Sorry btw I added you as a friend on here the other day thinking that's how you could PM people, then realised there wasn't a PM function which is why I couldn't work out how to lol.
 
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RobHague said:
Zq60W1E.png

Best I could do XD

EDIT: Oh thanks ^_^ yes thats quite helpful I wasnt aware of that with the cards temp target. So 94*c is an acceptable temperature for ATI cards? I thought that was around the point where NVIDIA cards melt so good to know :)
Click to expand...

LOL, love the pic. :D

That's the case for the reference cards. They can operate perfectly at 94c, or you can set a lower temp target and run them at 85c, it's up to you. You can also just set a manual fan speed using something like afterburner and control the fans that way. The choice is yours. The 295x2 will be running around 65c-74c in relative silence.

EDIT

Check my previous post for the PSU recommendations, sorry forgot to address that initially.
 
I could always go with 2x 290Xs now then, bump up the PSU and add another in future if I didn't fancy or couldn't splash out on whatever was going at the time.

How well does Crossfire scale? :) Thanks for the PSU comments. Ah its a tough one. That 295 X2 does look one beast of a card :D and those reference coolers on the 290X are too bad either to be honest. They would compliment my red/black set-up perfectly. Would it be too much to hope the reference cards had some kind of LED glow? :D haha.

It looks like I will probably go with those 290Xs :) as long as the heat goes out the back, and they will be ok next to each other (at least I have some good airflow going now). Cheers.
 
RobHague said:
I could always go with 2x 290Xs now then, bump up the PSU and add another in future if I didn't fancy or couldn't splash out on whatever was going at the time.

How well does Crossfire scale? :) Thanks for the PSU comments. Ah its a tough one. That 295 X2 does look one beast of a card :D and those reference coolers on the 290X are too bad either to be honest. They would compliment my red/black set-up perfectly. Would it be too much to hope the reference cards had some kind of LED glow? :D haha.

It looks like I will probably go with those 290Xs :) as long as the heat goes out the back, and they will be ok next to each other (at least I have some good airflow going now). Cheers.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a plan. If and when you add that third card though, you'll definitely be wanting to upgrade that psu.

Crossfire scales very well, assuming the game supports it. Take a look at the gaming bench threads and my results, it will give you an idea how well it scales. (very well)

That's the good thing about the reference cards, they do put 95% of the heat out of the rear of the case. Mind you, the 295x2 does the same as well depending on how you position the radiator.

May i make one final recommendation, a few of the Noctua Industrial 3,000 or 2,000 rpm fans as intake fans at the front of your case. They're awesome at providing cool air for the graphics cards.
 
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I have a 3 Corsair AF120's in the front of my case. They are RED LED ^_^ hopefully they are enough, I have heard good things about the Noctua fans but they look kind of..... ugly.
The brown ones anyway. My PC is kind of the PC that Corsair built at the moment XD corsair PSU, case, cooler, fans lol. It all goes nicely.

I have not pulled the gun on the 2x 290Xs yet. I have been trying to decide if its worth the extra £150 for the 295X2....

Can you replace the fan on the 295X2 easily? Maybe though I would be better just doing as I said, those PowerColor 290X's are £221! £442 for something that performs near to 2x 980s. Should hold me over till this mysterious new AMD card that everyone is frothing at the mouth over :D

To be honest, coming from a 780 Ti. I was a little disappointed with single 970/980s. SLI would have given me a boost with the 780 gen anyway. But alone, the 970 and 980 are no real upgrade from the 780 Ti. Just cooler and lower in power requirements which isn't so important on a desktop PC. Well cooler, but I dont care about a few £ on the electricity bill.

It's almost like my PC was destined for some AMD goodness anyway, since the entire thing is red and black :D hehe. Thanks for the help anyway ^_^ I will put my order in tonight.

Which will undoubtedly make OcUK quite happy again ;) I have been spending money on their site like a drunken sailor lately :P
 
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