Asus Radeon R9 390 DC3 OC Strix 8192MB temps and fan speed

Jasonst888 · 7 Oct 2015 at 10:49

Hi

I have recently recieved a warranty replacement in the form of the above named card:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-374-AS

I have never had this card before as it replaces a 7970 but it seems to be running really hot! I expected a certain amount of heat given that it is essentially a refined 290x but considering the cooling solution i do begin to wonder if it might be faulty.

I have it in a Silverstone RV03 (tested with case fans on high and low and with the side panel off with no notable difference). The card is by itself with the cpu in the system being cooled by an Antec H2O 920 so very limited heat build up in the case.

Despite this the card sits at 85-90c while gaming with the fan often hitting 100% averaging more often 85-90%. This was when gaming in CSGO....not exactly a gpu intensive game.

In dota 2 the card fan speed was 40-50% and hitting 90c consistently. I will test it on bf4 when i have it updated but these temps seem very high considering the side of the case is off.

Dont get me wrong, i have had both 290's and 290x's previously that ran very warm but that was the benefit of custom coolers. They still ran hot but they ran a lot quieter. I am looking round the web and I am not able to find many reviews on this card o. However there are multiple reviews of the 390x of exactly the same cooler type and i cannot find any review anywhere that shows that card hitting the temps my 390 does at the fan speeds it is running at.

The card is not overclocked, and I should be clear it isnt the temps i have an issue with but rather the fan speeds that it requires to even maintain those temps! And with the side of the case off to boot!

Does anybody have this card and can comment on the temps or more importantly the fan speeds!?

Regards

Jason

Joe! · 7 Oct 2015 at 11:10

Edit: Completely disregard my post, apparently tempreatures in the low 90s is normal for the 390/x cards...

It's not going to break your GPU but it does seem awfully high.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2947...-with-the-high-performing-joneses.html?page=2 - 88c on a 390x
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/08/17/asus_r9_390x_strix_directcu_iii_8g_oc_review/9 - 86c
http://hothardware.com/reviews/asus-strix-radeon-390x-review?page=7 - 89c
http://techarx.com/asus-r9-390-strix-oc-review-a-return-trip-to-hawaii/ - 85c
http://www.ocdrift.com/review-asus-strix-r9-390x-8gb/25/ - 86c

I realise these are 390x's, but I can't imagine it being too different for the 390. Nothing to worry about I guess!

Jasonst888 · 7 Oct 2015 at 11:33

I will be honest it isnt the temps that i am concerned with it is the fan level to get those temps. 90-100% in csgo and still hitting 90c seems silly

Joe! · 7 Oct 2015 at 11:36

What is your GPU utilisation? & Are you on a 60Hz monitor?

If you're on a 60Hz monitor you could try using a frame limiter, or even V-Sync. Since CS:GO isn't demanding your GPU will not be doing much work to maintain 60 FPS.

Marine-RX179 · 7 Oct 2015 at 11:37

I think it might worth checking what kind of voltage is the card on?

I wonder if Asus's bios for the card have set the voltage highered than needed, thus it might be causing the card to run much hotter.

Joe! said:
What is your GPU utilisation? & Are you on a 60Hz monitor?

If you're on a 60Hz monitor you could try using a frame limiter, or even V-Sync. Since CS:GO isn't demanding your GPU will not be doing much work to maintain 60 FPS.

...and also as Joe! said above...if you don't set a frame limit, the GPU will still utilize the GPU usage to 100%, and trucking out more frame rate than your display can output.

Kreeeee · 7 Oct 2015 at 11:40

I use MSI afterburner on my MSI 390 to set a fan profile I'm much happier with.

It's over clocked to 1200/1700 and hits 76C max. Before adjusting my fan profile it was hitting high 80's at stock clocks.

shankly1985 · 7 Oct 2015 at 11:40

Joe! said:
What is your GPU utilisation? & Are you on a 60Hz monitor?

If you're on a 60Hz monitor you could try using a frame limiter, or even V-Sync. Since CS:GO isn't demanding your GPU will not be doing much work to maintain 60 FPS.

Never lock the frame rate on csgo. It's one of the biggest not to do.
The higher your frame rate the better your hit detection and network latency.

Joe! · 7 Oct 2015 at 11:41

Then how are you going to avoid 100% GPU utilisation?

Kreeeee · 7 Oct 2015 at 11:43

Joe! said:
Then how are you going to avoid 100% GPU utilisation?

If you have sufficient cooling why would you need to?

Marine-RX179 · 7 Oct 2015 at 11:44

Joe! said:
Then how are you going to avoid 100% GPU utilisation?

Guess the answer is you don't. The price that has to be pay for competitive gaming

Or might as well grab a 120/144Hz monitor

Kreeeee said:
If you have sufficient cooling why would you need to?

But the issue is that OP's 390 is clearly running much hotter than it should be.

Jasonst888 · 12 Jan 2016 at 21:06

This is weird, having managed to test the card on other pc's it is perfectly fine. Runs at good fps with very little fan noise, never tops 40%.

But on the one pc the temps just increase to the limit and the fan goes up and up to compensate. The only way to stop it is to put vsync on, but even then the temps and fan speed are higher than every other pc tested.

So the card is fine, the pc is the issue, but no idea why. The case is well ventilated so it isn't that, tried differ drivers and a different pcie slot and no joy.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

fs123 · 12 Jan 2016 at 21:12

Jasonst888 said:
This is weird, having managed to test the card on other pc's it is perfectly fine. Runs at good fps with very little fan noise, never tops 40%.

But on the one pc the temps just increase to the limit and the fan goes up and up to compensate. The only way to stop it is to put vsync on, but even then the temps and fan speed are higher than every other pc tested.

So the card is fine, the pc is the issue, but no idea why. The case is well ventilated so it isn't that, tried differ drivers and a different pcie slot and no joy.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

It means the case must have bad air flow thus build up of heat. Test without side cover and if it stays cooler then get another case or add better fans to improve airflow.

Jasonst888 · 12 Jan 2016 at 21:19

Done it isnt the case, full fan speed, side panel off etc it makes no difference.

CapitalOne · 12 Jan 2016 at 21:25

To be honest, i've had red And green cards from almost all manufacturers and I would say Asus and VTX3D share the prize for "worst proprietry cooling". For Asus that is a bit dissapointing especially with the ROG tax on Strix and Matrix cards.

Just IMHO.

Honours to EVGA and Sapphire for being the best.

Jasonst888 · 12 Jan 2016 at 21:28

CapitalOne said:
To be honest, i've had red And green cards from almost all manufacturers and I would say Asus and VTX3D share the prize for "worst proprietry cooling". For Asus that is a bit dissapointing especially with the ROG tax on Strix and Matrix cards.

Just IMHO.

Honours to EVGA and Sapphire for being the best.

I would normally agree, but tested in my main rig the card is practically silent in BF4 and other games i tested. Was very surprised.

As I say, can't fault the card, it is obviously the pc i am just unsure what might cause this issue??? My assumption is that it is some form of driver conflict with a program on the pc but i have never seen the like before so not sure...

fs123 · 12 Jan 2016 at 21:39

Do you have another card near the GPU that could be restricting airflow. I know with my crossfire 290X the top card gets hot even if the other card is disabled with no power. Without the second card in the case the gpu is much cooler.

CapitalOne · 12 Jan 2016 at 21:41

Coudlnt this equally be a software issue? Maybe do a DDU and reinstall drivers? Just a guess

Dave2150 · 12 Jan 2016 at 22:23

Where is the radiator on your CPU AIO located?

If it's on the rear fan mount, it could be interfering with your graphics card.

Did the PC's that the GPU worked well in, have a CPU AIO cooler mounted in the same location?

Panos · 12 Jan 2016 at 23:25

Jasonst888 said:
This is weird, having managed to test the card on other pc's it is perfectly fine. Runs at good fps with very little fan noise, never tops 40%.

But on the one pc the temps just increase to the limit and the fan goes up and up to compensate. The only way to stop it is to put vsync on, but even then the temps and fan speed are higher than every other pc tested.

So the card is fine, the pc is the issue, but no idea why. The case is well ventilated so it isn't that, tried differ drivers and a different pcie slot and no joy.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

OK. few things.

a) Did you use DDU to remove the drivers from your system, between replacing 7970 & 390?

b) Do you know the ambient temp in your case? If the case is warm and has no space, it will raise the temps of the card.

c) Use DDU clean all AMD drivers. Remove MSI AB and every other similar program.

d) Install 16.1 drivers. Play some games with the system as is. (no MSI AB etc)Try to use Trixx or Asus Tweak if you plan to overclock and not MSI AB.

Quite a few, including myself, having issues with MSI AB when used with Crimson 15.12 and 16.1 apparently. (Both 295X2 and R9 Nano)
Few other posts around here tonight, stating the same, that all issues were gone after MSI AB was removed.

Jasonst888 · 12 Jan 2016 at 23:47

Panos said:
OK. few things.

a) Did you use DDU to remove the drivers from your system, between replacing 7970 & 390?

b) Do you know the ambient temp in your case? If the case is warm and has no space, it will raise the temps of the card.

c) Use DDU clean all AMD drivers. Remove MSI AB and every other similar program.

d) Install 16.1 drivers. Play some games with the system as is. (no MSI AB etc)Try to use Trixx or Asus Tweak if you plan to overclock and not MSI AB.

Quite a few, including myself, having issues with MSI AB when used with Crimson 15.12 and 16.1 apparently. (Both 295X2 and R9 Nano)
Few other posts around here tonight, stating the same, that all issues were gone after MSI AB was removed.

Shall give this a try and see. The case is a rv03 both with and without the side panel and both low and high fans for testing. Heat build up is not an issue. In fact my main case has far worse cooling in a very low.rpm fractual r5 as I prefer the silence am willing to sacrifice for temp to get it.