Watercooling R9 290x Crossfire

wabak

wabak

wabak

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Hi all,

I'm wondering if I can get some advice here... I'm running a combo of an R9 290 MSI Twin Frozr and an R9 290x XFX Black Edition card, as I game at 4k. Most games this is fine and I can max them out, but I'm getting worried about my temps. The VRMs on the XFX quite often hit 110c under load, and both cards are at 95c under load.

The fan noise, plus heat this generates in the room is a nightmare.

I'm wondering if there are any go to kits for this? From searching I see a lot of individual stuff posted, and I honestly have no idea where to start in regards to water cooling... It just seems like my cheapest option other than upgrading to a liquid cooled card such as the Fury X.

Another option (and apparently cheapest) would be a pair of Accelero Extreme IIIs... my budget is around £300.

Other specs:

i7 4770k
8gb Ram
Corsair 300R Case
1200 EVGA PSU

Thanks for any help.
 
A pair of Accelero's would still dump all that heat into the case, but I suppose the cards would run quieter, though probably still on the hot side.

If you wanted to fully watercool them, you need either a new case to fit the rads in or you'd need to run an external radiator.
With your budget, you'd likely need to source a pair of 2nd hand blocks for them (which isn't a bad thing). I'm not sure if your XFX card has a block available for it tbh.

Alternatively, there's this option:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £174.46
(includes shipping: £10.50)
​


​

Out of stock here, but you get the idea.
You'll also need some heatsinks for the VRMs.

Despite all that, I think your best option is to keep your £300, sell the cards when you're ready and look at a single GPU from the new wave of upcoming die shrink cards in the next few months.
 
Would probably be best selling the 2x 290x, does crossfire actually work for you?

If your going to keep them look at a full cover block from EKWB, but you need to go to there website to make sure the waterblocks fit your actual cards. I was unlucky and they didnt support a 7970 by gigabyte so i had to get a EK thermsphere instead. GPU temps max out at 35c but the VRM's get very toasty (no temps logged on the card though).
 
I imagine that crossfire does work for him as he says it's fine in most games and both his cards are hitting 95° :)

The whole crossfire doesn't work thing has been blown waaay out of proportion due to a handful of games that have issues.
 
Really? Why have you said that most games are fine and you can pretty much max them at 4K?

When you say none, what games are we talking about here?

Also, if none work, why would you want to spend £300 on watercooling your cards?
 
Uncle Petey said:
Really? Why have you said that most games are fine and you can pretty much max them at 4K?

When you say none, what games are we talking about here?

Also, if none work, why would you want to spend £300 on watercooling your cards?
Click to expand...

That wasn't me, that was Overlag. Crossfire has been no real issue besides the heat generated and fan noise... and waiting a bit longer for crossfire profiles to be released.

Thanks for the advice above, I may wait on the upcoming GPUs released and see what I can find.

Another ption tough, ARCTIC Accelero Hybrid III-140 does look pretty awesome. £89 each here, so within budget, but maybe not enough space in my case, any advice on these?
 
Yeah, my bad... :o Whoopsie!

The hybrid is a good product. Still not sure if you should invest any more into it right now though, but I guess you want to use your gear, so...

As for fitting it, you'll have to remove your hdd racks I believe.
 
the EK-FC R9-290X (Rev.2.0) [3831109869000] should fit both cards according to EKWB configurator, might have to buy direct because they seem out of stock everywhere in the UK.

Fitting a 240mm (120x2) rad into that case might be a issue. I had a look around and it seems there isn't much space for top mount. 25mm thick radiator plus 25mm thick fans might foul on the ram/fan headers and your CPU cooler. Add in a D5 waterpump, some fittings and some Tygon tubing (easier imo) and your good to go.

Going this route rather than the AIO's will make adding the CPU cooling to the loop in the future possible, although you'd need a bigger radiator+case for certain. Also these full cover blocks cool the VRM's and ram, unlike those AIO's.
 
the XFX 290(x) cards are well known to have VRM temp problems.

If the AIO solution is doable, then thats the way to go IMO

If not, you could try and replace the thermal pad on the VRMs (assuming at has some kind of VRM cooling solution?) with high grade fujipolly thermal pads, and change the thermal paste of the core for a liquid metal paste (there are risks to this, your choice). With these changes, your VRM temps will most likely go down a fair bit, but wether you core temps will change that much, who knows. You cards are throttling at 95c, so it depends how much extra cooling you need to stop them throttling really. But it would only cost you like £30 max...

You could also look at improving case airflow to shave a few c off.

EDIT - full custom water is probably going to cost you £300+, and thats buying 2nd hand blocks.
 
Last edited:
Custom watercooling or don't bother.

But at this stage I would leave it till new cards come out the change from 2 cards to one.

I have a 290x and a 290 the 290 is unlocked to 290x I run them to play games at 4k
But 75% of games don't work with crossfire.
 
Hi all,

Thanks for the advice/feedback.

I decided to go with 2 G10s and 2 Kraken X41s, after reading online and people being impressed with the solution I felt it was worth a shot.

I was also tempted by the 980ti or the Fury X, but my budget doesn't stretch for what would be considered a bit of a side grade.

I'll definitely be looking to upgrade when a single card comes out that can really push 4k. The 980ti comes very close, but not close enough IMO.

If the G10/X41 combo proves successful, theres a good chance I can overclock these two cards to get even more performance as well.

£220 or so all in, so in my mind, let's hope it's worth it.
 
wabak said:
Hi all,

Thanks for the advice/feedback.

I decided to go with 2 G10s and 2 Kraken X41s, after reading online and people being impressed with the solution I felt it was worth a shot.

I was also tempted by the 980ti or the Fury X, but my budget doesn't stretch for what would be considered a bit of a side grade.

I'll definitely be looking to upgrade when a single card comes out that can really push 4k. The 980ti comes very close, but not close enough IMO.

If the G10/X41 combo proves successful, theres a good chance I can overclock these two cards to get even more performance as well.

£220 or so all in, so in my mind, let's hope it's worth it.
Click to expand...

I would also look into some VRM cooling. I have a G10 on my 290X and found it didn't cool the VRM good enough and still got to 90c+. I used a Gelid kit (http://www.gelidsolutions.com/products/index.php?lid=1&cid=13&id=108) and some Fujipoly extreme plus thermal pads. temps now down to 75c at load.

Case airflow will be very important in keeping those VRM temps down though, especially with Crossfire.
 
wabak said:
Hi all,

Thanks for the advice/feedback.

I decided to go with 2 G10s and 2 Kraken X41s, after reading online and people being impressed with the solution I felt it was worth a shot.

I was also tempted by the 980ti or the Fury X, but my budget doesn't stretch for what would be considered a bit of a side grade.

I'll definitely be looking to upgrade when a single card comes out that can really push 4k. The 980ti comes very close, but not close enough IMO.

If the G10/X41 combo proves successful, theres a good chance I can overclock these two cards to get even more performance as well.

£220 or so all in, so in my mind, let's hope it's worth it.
Click to expand...

Waste of money imho! Sorry. :)

Overlag said:
His case has twin 120mm fans aimed at the gpus i think... so should be ok.
Click to expand...

If that is the case, he should try those side fans blowing out of the case.
 
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