Which 290x 8GB?....

arc@css · 24 Feb 2015 at 10:48

Enjoy.

RanxZy · 24 Feb 2015 at 11:20

Yeah that's a great card there for sure.

ginjaninja · 24 Feb 2015 at 18:37

My reading up on the internet suggests for quietness/headroom in cooler as number1 factor...

Vapour X is a tad better then PCS+/Tri-X...but not by the amount extra being charged..
The Twin Frozr is a lower league still, but if noise is less important then best bang per buck by some margin...

What is the expected eta of the 300 series? 8gb or not in 300 it might have a profound affect on this generation...

sprite1275 · 24 Feb 2015 at 18:49

£330 for 8gb card seems a great bargain. Shame the game codes have finshed. Managed to get my lightning the day before they pulled the gold reward.

TwinCalliber · 26 Feb 2015 at 15:25

Well I got my card today, difference in performance from the 7950 is light and day.

BF 4 runs very smooth, settings all on ultra, 1440p, AA x4, mantle API. In far cry 4 I get an average of about 40 fps everything on high, AA x 2 I think.

It is pretty loud tho, audibly more than my 7950, and runs really hot, was getting to about 89c in BF4 and the same in Far cry 4, idles at desktop at around 57c. I guess I can setup a custom fan curve to help idle noise, dont really hear it that much when im playing games etc. I do have the Corsair 350D case, and only 1 case fan, so its probs time for me to get some more/better ones

Overall a very good card!

LtMatt · 26 Feb 2015 at 16:10

TwinCalliber said:
Well I got my card today, difference in performance from the 7950 is light and day.

BF 4 runs very smooth, settings all on ultra, 1440p, AA x4, mantle API. In far cry 4 I get an average of about 40 fps everything on high, AA x 2 I think.

It is pretty loud tho, audibly more than my 7950, and runs really hot, was getting to about 89c in BF4 and the same in Far cry 4, idles at desktop at around 57c. I guess I can setup a custom fan curve to help idle noise, dont really hear it that much when im playing games etc. I do have the Corsair 350D case, and only 1 case fan, so its probs time for me to get some more/better ones

Overall a very good card!

Glad to hear the card is performing well and always pleasing to see another customer sampling the delights of the Mantle API.

Do you have more than one monitor by any chance? As that could explain the higher idle temp as the gpu clock needs to be slightly higher to compensate for the second screen.

TwinCalliber · 26 Feb 2015 at 16:18

AMDMatt said:
Glad to hear the card is performing well and always pleasing to see another customer sampling the delights of the Mantle API.

Do you have more than one monitor by any chance? As that could explain the higher idle temp as the gpu clock needs to be slightly higher to compensate for the second screen.

ahhh ok, yeah I do have two monitors setup. Cheers AMDMatt!

LtMatt · 26 Feb 2015 at 16:19

TwinCalliber said:
ahhh ok, yeah I do have two monitors setup. Cheers AMDMatt!

No problem.

You can always use MSI Afterburner to set a custom fan profile to set things to your desire.

arc@css · 26 Feb 2015 at 17:33

Good job. Now wack up the settings in games & thrash that mother!

TwinCalliber · 26 Feb 2015 at 23:42

arc@css said:
Good job. Now wack up the settings in games & thrash that mother!

Dont need to tell me that twice!

arc@css · 26 Feb 2015 at 23:44

TwinCalliber · 27 Feb 2015 at 18:50

Just finished playing Dying Light for 45 mins or so, GPU peaked at 94c....thats pretty damn hot lol. I am more concerned about how it will do when the weather actually starts to get hotter, especially as my room gets really hot in the summer.

All reviews I have looked at said it was getting to around 70c when gaming.

Anyone got any advice? I guess it would be a good idea to get some more case fans maybe? Would that really effect it that much though?

ginjaninja · 27 Feb 2015 at 21:37

TwinCalliber said:
Just finished playing Dying Light for 45 mins or so, GPU peaked at 94c....thats pretty damn hot lol. I am more concerned about how it will do when the weather actually starts to get hotter, especially as my room gets really hot in the summer.

All reviews I have looked at said it was getting to around 70c when gaming.

Anyone got any advice? I guess it would be a good idea to get some more case fans maybe? Would that really effect it that much though?

if more energy is going into case than being removed, then even a small temp can get very hot until the delta becomes so great, the whole case is a big heatsink...so i would have thought more airflow would help..

TwinCalliber · 28 Feb 2015 at 00:23

ginjaninja said:
if more energy is going into case than being removed, then even a small temp can get very hot until the delta becomes so great, the whole case is a big heatsink...so i would have thought more airflow would help..

Cool, thanks for the help. Gonna buy a pack of Corsair SP120s and a AF120 for my case this weekend! See how it is after that

thefogo · 28 Feb 2015 at 00:23

TwinCalliber said:
Just finished playing Dying Light for 45 mins or so, GPU peaked at 94c....thats pretty damn hot lol. I am more concerned about how it will do when the weather actually starts to get hotter, especially as my room gets really hot in the summer.

All reviews I have looked at said it was getting to around 70c when gaming.

Anyone got any advice? I guess it would be a good idea to get some more case fans maybe? Would that really effect it that much though?

Is it throttling at all?

TwinCalliber · 28 Feb 2015 at 00:29

thefogo said:
Is it throttling at all?

Nope, performance in games is great, I have afterburner running on my other monitor while I am playing and I haven't noticed any throttling.

Gilbert89 · 28 Feb 2015 at 02:53

TwinCalliber said:
Nope, performance in games is great, I have afterburner running on my other monitor while I am playing and I haven't noticed any throttling.

Set up a custom fan control until you get the extra case fans if you would prefer.

I'm not saying stick it stupidly high but a slight increase in fan speed at lower temps should keep it lower on average as the stock fan control let's it heat up hot then pushes the fans hard but it's hard to keep low as it's already reached so hot.

Also try undervolting if you aren't overclocking that will shave a few degree's off.

LtMatt · 28 Feb 2015 at 10:08

If you're running at stock clocks Twin, you may as well undervolt the gpu a little. Start off with -0.025v in afterburner and see how you go. If that's stable and you get no issues at 2D with screen flickering or black screens, slowly start decreasing the voltage a little bit until you reach the limit. Should whack 5-10c off temps.

TwinCalliber · 28 Feb 2015 at 11:12

Gilbert89 said:
Set up a custom fan control until you get the extra case fans if you would prefer.

I'm not saying stick it stupidly high but a slight increase in fan speed at lower temps should keep it lower on average as the stock fan control let's it heat up hot then pushes the fans hard but it's hard to keep low as it's already reached so hot.

Also try undervolting if you aren't overclocking that will shave a few degree's off.

AMDMatt said:
If you're running at stock clocks Twin, you may as well undervolt the gpu a little. Start off with -0.025v in afterburner and see how you go. If that's stable and you get no issues at 2D with screen flickering or black screens, slowly start decreasing the voltage a little bit until you reach the limit. Should whack 5-10c off temps.

Brilliant, thanks guys for the help! I will give this a go. Like I said, im gonna buy some decent corsair fans this weekend. I managed to find some old fans and have put them in for now, but yeah gonna buy some with better airflow and static pressure. Ill try out the undervolting and report back!

TwinCalliber · 28 Feb 2015 at 11:19

Just a quick couple of questions, what do I select under Unlock voltage control? options are standard MSI, extended MSI or reference design. Also the volt units are just 1,2,3...etc Sorry for noob questions

It is default on +6, is that normal?