AMD Radeon 290X Kuhler mod: Taming Hawaii 'Pic heavy'.

kamz · 24 Nov 2013 at 21:19

Had the same mod on my 7950, and it was brilliant, what makes it even better with the 290x series is you no longer need the copper shim.

Furthermore I have close friend has just ordered two 290 to replace his existing crossfire 7950's that were also running via dwood brackets and antec 620 solution.

Hopefully get him to post some images of how they run in crossfire with temps + vrm temps

Boomstick777 · 24 Nov 2013 at 23:31

Done a bit more reading on VRM heatsinks, it does seem that a lot of people use them

What I don't get is why my old cards, GTX 480, HD 7950, HD 7970, Nvidia GTX 780, Titan etc all ran fine with this mod and no VRM heatsinks, if it so important, how come they were fine?

Anybody know where I could pick up the heatsinks for VRM's on this 290X?

MrMarvelous · 25 Nov 2013 at 00:10

What about VRM heatsinks? Would have thought they get hot as hell! :eek:

Boomstick777 · 25 Nov 2013 at 00:40

Anybody know where I could pick up the heatsinks for VRM's on this 290X?

teppic · 25 Nov 2013 at 00:45

Aren't these recommended?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-038-AL

Orangey · 25 Nov 2013 at 00:48

Boomstick777 said:
Done a bit more reading on VRM heatsinks, it does seem that a lot of people use them

What I don't get is why my old cards, GTX 480, HD 7950, HD 7970, Nvidia GTX 780, Titan etc all ran fine with this mod and no VRM heatsinks, if it so important, how come they were fine?

Anybody know where I could pick up the heatsinks for VRM's on this 290X?

Somebody linked a kit they had bought in another thread I think, might have been this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-038-AL

VRMs are rated for 100C+ so I guess if you had any kind of airflow in your case they were kept cool enough from that? I have heard that they may work less efficiently when near their temp limit, perhaps you could've got better OC's this whole time if you cooled em.

Boomstick777 · 25 Nov 2013 at 00:55

Orangey said:
Somebody linked a kit they had bought in another thread I think, might have been this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-038-AL

VRMs are rated for 100C+ so I guess if you had any kind of airflow in your case they were kept cool enough from that? I have heard that they may work less efficiently when near their temp limit, perhaps you could've got better OC's this whole time if you cooled em.

Haha very possibly

. Thanks for the link, trying to find VRM cooling small enough for the 3 at the back of the card.. Everything seems to come with custom coolers, hard to get separate bits..

Boomstick777 · 25 Nov 2013 at 09:09

Idle VRM temps:

Full Load VRM Temps (Furmark stress test):

Donpaolo · 25 Nov 2013 at 10:01

VRM1 temps @97c is that with the VRAM Chip Coolers ? I think if you can get that down you should be able to overclock more or be more stable at least that is high but i think people have been saying they could have a limit of 125c but i dont know if that is 100% correct. lovely mod for sure.

If that is not with the VRAM Chip Coolers get some on it

Boomstick777 · 25 Nov 2013 at 10:23

Donpaolo said:
VRM1 temps @97c is that with the VRAM Chip Coolers ? I think if you can get that down you should be able to overclock more or be more stable at least that is high but i think people have been saying they could have a limit of 125c but i dont know if that is 100% correct. lovely mod for sure.

If that is not with the VRAM Chip Coolers get some on it

Yeah that is without any heatsinks on the VRM. Done a lot of reading and it seems that at higher than 100c VRM's could effect overclocking. Bearing in mind that test was done at stock settings, so I'm def gonna take the advice from the peeps here and get some VRM heatsinks. Only problem is I can't find any low profile ones that would fit under the Kuhler fan bracket..

I found that VRM 1 is the front part of the card with multiple VRM's and VRM 2 is the rear 3 part. Cooling likr this in the pic would be ideal, but only seems to ship with retail Artic Accelero 3.

benjii · 25 Nov 2013 at 10:25

Boomstick777 said:
Yeah that is without any heatsinks on the VRM. Done a lot of reading and it seems that at higher than 100c VRM's could effect overclocking. Bearing in mind that test was done at stock settings, so I'm def gonna take the advice from the peeps here and get some VRM heatsinks. Only problem is I can't find any low profile ones that would fit under the Kuhler fan bracket..

You could always buy some normal ones and cut the tops off.

Boomstick777 · 25 Nov 2013 at 10:29

benjii said:
You could always buy some normal ones and cut the tops off.

Ty, what can you use to cut them so it's a decent clean cut?

Orangey · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:00

Boomstick777 said:
Ty, what can you use to cut them so it's a decent clean cut?

Dremel, hacksaw, jigsaw + vice / clamps? I would wonder about reduced effectiveness though.

Arr0way · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:17

Why not get a proper loop with a full size block? This will then cool the vram.

flopper · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:28

Arr0way said:
Why not get a proper loop with a full size block? This will then cool the vram.

kinda hard to get hold of a block currently.
and christmas is up also so dont expect things to improve so fast.
I did a similiar mod, used a vga block for core and using 2 fans under the card to cool the vrm. while not optimal until a full cover block is widely available this will due for now.

Donpaolo · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:31

I am going to say the reason is cost. This mod cost him nearly nothing as he had most of the parts already i think. If you want to go custom loop you are looking at £400-£500 pounds and for some people its not worth it / too expensive. Plus its fun to mod

benjii · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:35

Orangey said:
Dremel, hacksaw, jigsaw + vice / clamps? I would wonder about reduced effectiveness though.

The reduced effectiveness would be a factor with purpose made smaller heatsinks just due to their size. I'd imagine something is better than nothing.

Boomstick777 · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:37

Donpaolo said:
I am going to say the reason is cost. This mod cost him nearly nothing as he had most of the parts already i think. If you want to go custom loop you are looking at £400-£500 pounds and for some people its not worth it / too expensive. Plus its fun to mod

^^ This.

I've ordered the heatink set (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-038-AL) from OCUK that teppic and orangey recommended.

If worst comes to it, and it doesn't fit under the fan bracket, I'll try a different bracket without fan mount, probably better to fit heatsinks on memory and VRM with no fan than to have an fan cooler with no heatsinks right?

Will update the thread when it's done.

Arr0way · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:43

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-458-EK just saying.

I'd of thought Block, Pump & Res, Rad + tube & connectors could be had for 2/300 + 75/100 more if you want to do the cpu as well.

If you have the existing parts already then fair enough.

benjii · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:45

Boomstick777 said:
^^ This.

I've ordered the heatink set (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-038-AL) from OCUK that teppic and orangey recommended.

If worst comes to it, and it doesn't fit under the fan bracket, I'll try a different bracket without fan mount, probably better to fit heatsinks on memory and VRM with no fan than to have an fan cooler with no heatsinks right?

Will update the thread when it's done.

My prolimatech cooler comes with some tiny vrm heatsinks that I don't need, you can have those if you want.

The line of black blobs