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What to keep out of 290/290x

If both are under water i would say the 290x would still have the edge. +69 on the volts is not much for water. Try giving it another 100mv and see what it's capable of.

If it's only the 290 under water i would stick with that as it's much easier to live with and should be faster under water with some volts added.
 
Yeah mine plod along at +150mv.

I would see what volts theyre running at first, they could have built in offsets and be running at a closer voltage than you think.

Sounds like that 290 is a good clocker if its running at stock volts, just get them both maxed out at then run a few benchmarks, pick the one that comes out on top.
 
Why not crossfire them if you are watercooling. The heat will not be an issue and you get a decent performance boost with 2 cards in supported games.
 
1 is under water the 290, the 290x has a stock cooler, means i would have to swap them over.

3dmark score for the 290x @1100/1250 http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7878351

3dmark score for the 290 @1100/1250 http://www.3dmark.com/fs/8067704

xfire score http://www.3dmark.com/fs/8068078

Heaven
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No point in xfire for me as only have a 60hz screen.
 
Yeah at the same speed the 290x will win, but i would swap the cooler around and see what your your 290x can do, run them up to say +150mv each and see what core clock they can achieve. Its the only way youll find out which is best really. For the sake of 15 mins and a little thermal paste its worth having a bash.
 
jamiehard1989 said:
1 is under water the 290, the 290x has a stock cooler, means i would have to swap them over.

No point in xfire for me as only have a 60hz screen.
Click to expand...

The screen refresh rate has not much to do with why you would go crossfire. Most newer games can't even run at 60fps with a single 290X so crossfire makes sense if you want to get a locked 60 fps in games such as ROTTR, Hitman, etc. You do realise that to get a smooth 60fps with vsync ON you need a setup where the average fps is higher than 60fps?
 
Stick both your cards to +69mv( if thats all teh stock cooler can handle) and max out their gpu clocks, then max out the mem after. Run a couple of Unigine Valley runs and see which ones come out on top.

If your gonna stick with AB then theres no point swapping the water block over as going from +69 to +100mv aint gonna make a world of difference in clock speed.
 
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Memory clocking makes hardly any difference in games, more so at your res- it'll only get you a few higher points in BM scores.

The 290X>290 unless you can get ~+200MHz on top of the 290X's core max clock, even then it's going to be six n half a dozen using more power with reduced stability to match the X in all scenarios.


jamiehard1989 said:
Also i use msi AB but i can only go upto +100mv as i like using the overlay.
Click to expand...

Google adding more volts via AB on the 290X, you add a switch to the AB shortcut and the sky's the limit on how much voltage you want to add to the 290's.:D

The ref 290 is built like a tank, I could bench with +250mv easy on good beefed up air cooling and then with an aio so I'd imagine under a proper full water block the 290 can take even more abuse.

You just need to keep an eye on vrm's and make sure they don't get too high.
 
At the same clocks, the biggest difference was less than 2fps at about 60fps, I'd be surprised if you would notice that.
Persoanlly I'd keep the 290 as the block is already on it, then just sell the 290x, its worth more as well.
 
If I had both cards now I'd spend a month or two messing around with crossfire while waiting for the next gen cards to get closer, Then I'd sell one just before the release and leave myself with a single waterblocked card.

If I could switch the coolers on them I would, then the 290x would be blocked and the 290 I'd sell at a later date as mentioned.
I sold an as new condition boxed Twin Frozer 290x on the MM for 130 last year if I had it now I'd of got a 390 to add and play with for a while.

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/7878351/fs/8067704/fs/5555979/fs/5567255/fs/8068078

I'd definitely mess around with some crossfire with them.
 
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