295x2 Radiator Fan Broken

badogblue · 27 Feb 2015 at 16:29

So I've just installed my 295x2 last week with an sp120 fan, though unfortunately I haven't had time to test it properly.

I was just tidying away the boxes when I looked at the original fan and noticed 4 cracks at the fan/frame supports. A gently push of the fan and it popped out of the frame. (See picture below in spoiler).

I'm just hoping the gpu is not damaged, it must have been some impact to damage the fan that much!

As its brand new, should I return it, OR run some tests to confirm the gpu is working. (Aesthetically it seems fine). Though there is always the chance of a problem occurring further down the road.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Doogles · 27 Feb 2015 at 16:32

Just test the card and see if it works okay, it could just be a manufacture defect that made the fan have some crack in it. See what others say before taking my opinion though

LtMatt · 27 Feb 2015 at 16:34

As above, if the gpu works well I'd keep it seeing as you're going to replace the fan anyway.

Inform the retailer now though and show them the picture so you have it on record should you ever have to return the card in the future.

Kaapstad · 27 Feb 2015 at 16:39

You should be ok OP as if the card gets too hot it will just crash very quickly until it cools down.

badogblue · 27 Feb 2015 at 16:40

AMDMatt said:
As above, if the gpu works well I'd keep it seeing as you're going to replace the fan anyway.

Inform the retailer now though and show them the picture so you have it on record should you ever have to return the card in the future.

I got it from here, will send them an email now.

Can't wait to use this card, just need the time

LtMatt · 27 Feb 2015 at 16:40

badogblue said:
I got it from here, will send them an email now.

Can't wait to use this card, just need the time

It's a lovely card, never get tired of seeing the Red Radeon logo in my case.

badogblue · 28 Feb 2015 at 19:21

Doogles said:
Just test the card and see if it works okay, it could just be a manufacture defect that made the fan have some crack in it. See what others say before taking my opinion though

AMDMatt said:
As above, if the gpu works well I'd keep it seeing as you're going to replace the fan anyway.

Inform the retailer now though and show them the picture so you have it on record should you ever have to return the card in the future.

So I have done a few tests and updated drivers to 14.12. However things aren't looking to great.

Unigine Valley Benchmark Score: 4186

Compared to 5528 @ http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/04/08/amd-radeon-r9-295x2-review/8 (used exact same settings)

Their test setup uses an i5 3570k, I have a 4790K (Everything at stock)

Any ideas why my score is so much lower?
Any other benchmarks I can run to compare like for like?

LtMatt · 28 Feb 2015 at 19:24

badogblue said:
So I have done a few tests and updated drivers to 14.12. However things aren't looking to great.

Unigine Valley Benchmark Score: 4186

Compared to 5528 @ http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/04/08/amd-radeon-r9-295x2-review/8 (used exact same settings)

Their test setup uses an i5 3570k, I have a 4790K (Everything at stock)

Any ideas why my score is so much lower?
Any other benchmarks I can run to compare like for like?

Did you copy their settings exactly? They're using x0 AA.

Copy the settings Humbug uses in the Valley thread to compare then post the result here and I'll compare to mine.

badogblue · 28 Feb 2015 at 19:35

AMDMatt said:
Did you copy their settings exactly? They're using x0 AA.

Yes I used x0 AA

AMDMatt said:
Copy the settings Humbug uses in the Valley thread to compare then post the result here and I'll compare to mine.

Cheers

Using the Extreme HD setting as per Humbug's post I got:
Score: 3774 (Min=32fps , Max=164fps)

LtMatt · 28 Feb 2015 at 19:36

badogblue said:
Yes I used x0 AA

Cheers
Using the Extreme HD setting as per Humbug's post I got:
Score: 3774 (Min=32fps , Max=164fps)

Are you running in full screen mode?

LtMatt · 28 Feb 2015 at 19:43

badogblue said:
Yes I used x0 AA

Cheers
Using the Extreme HD setting as per Humbug's post I got:
Score: 3774 (Min=32fps , Max=164fps)

AMDMatt said:
Are you running in full screen mode?

This is what i got.

What drivers are you using?

Take a look at my Crossfire thread and setup an OSD, it should allow us to diagnose any potential issues easier like low gpu usage etc.

badogblue · 28 Feb 2015 at 21:59

AMDMatt said:
This is what i got.

What drivers are you using?

Take a look at my Crossfire thread and setup an OSD, it should allow us to diagnose any potential issues easier like low gpu usage etc.

I'm using the latest drivers: 14.12 in full screen mode

Followed your Crossfire thread, see spoilers below:
(vram, ram, cpu usage have been excluded but were well below 100%)

Best result so far:

GPU Usage during benchmark [Min=38%, Max=98%, Avg(approx)= 75%]

Above results are best after 10 benchmarks. Not sure why gpu usage is averaging 70-75% across both cores? Perhaps it's just a low performing card?

LtMatt · 1 Mar 2015 at 08:33

badogblue said:
I'm using the latest drivers: 14.12 in full screen mode

Followed your Crossfire thread, see spoilers below:
(vram, ram, cpu usage have been excluded but were well below 100%)

Best result so far:

GPU Usage during benchmark [Min=38%, Max=98%, Avg(approx)= 75%]

Above results are best after 10 benchmarks. Not sure why gpu usage is averaging 70-75% across both cores? Perhaps it's just a low performing card?

Your results look spot on, stop worrying.

This bench is bottlenecking our cards, so cpu grunt plays a part here which will explain some difference between our cards. Focus on playing games and allow the 295x2 to stretch it's legs.

Enjoy your card.

Kaapstad · 1 Mar 2015 at 08:42

AMDMatt said:
This is what i got.

What drivers are you using?

Take a look at my Crossfire thread and setup an OSD, it should allow us to diagnose any potential issues easier like low gpu usage etc.

That is a little bit low compared to a pair of 290Xs running the same clocks.

Here is one I did the other day for another forum.

I was running the CPU @4.0ghz for the above.

The difference could be down to the huge bandwidth going through one slot with the 295X2. Valley does cause some terrible bottlenecks.

Freddie1980 · 1 Mar 2015 at 09:12

I would say overclock your cpu to 4.2 (should easy enough) and try again.

badogblue · 1 Mar 2015 at 11:16

AMDMatt said:
Your results look spot on, stop worrying.

This bench is bottlenecking our cards, so cpu grunt plays a part here which will explain some difference between our cards. Focus on playing games and allow the 295x2 to stretch it's legs.

Enjoy your card.

Okay this is weird,
In valley benchmark, frame rate varies constantly. However around the middle of each scene it stays static for a few seconds.

With MSI Afterburner running in background, Stactic fps = 100, Score = 4200
With MSI Afterburner closed, Stactic fps = 64, Score = 3800

I've tested this multiple times and consistently get the same results.

So MSI Afterburner increases performance by 10%

Freddie1980 said:
I would say overclock your cpu to 4.2 (should easy enough) and try again.

4790k is running at 4.2/4.4 turbo

Quartz · 1 Mar 2015 at 11:49

badogblue said:
I've tested this multiple times and consistently get the same results.

So MSI Afterburner increases performance by 10%

This is likely due to MSI Afterburner implementing a different fan / power / etc profile.

LtMatt · 1 Mar 2015 at 14:13

AMDMatt said:
This is what i got.

What drivers are you using?

Take a look at my Crossfire thread and setup an OSD, it should allow us to diagnose any potential issues easier like low gpu usage etc.

Kaapstad said:
That is a little bit low compared to a pair of 290Xs running the same clocks.

Here is one I did the other day for another forum.

I was running the CPU @4.0ghz for the above.

The difference could be down to the huge bandwidth going through one slot with the 295X2. Valley does cause some terrible bottlenecks.

I think you might be right Kaap, i put my 8GB 290X Elpida cards back in and scored this with the cpu at 4Ghz. :eek:

Kaapstad · 1 Mar 2015 at 16:36

AMDMatt said:
I think you might be right Kaap, i put my 8GB 290X Elpida cards back in and scored this with the cpu at 4Ghz.

What did you get using just two 290Xs ?

This is what I was running in my post above.

Valley is really very bad to use for any serious testing.

LtMatt · 1 Mar 2015 at 16:39

Kaapstad said:
What did you get using just two 290Xs ?

This is what I was running in my post above.

Valley is really very bad to use for any serious testing.

EDIT,

Sorry Kaap i see what you mean.

I forgot to disable two cards, oh well.