AMD Radeon R9 290X with Hawaii GPU pictured, has 512-bit 4GB Memory

[Uncle Petey]

It's virtually essential if you ask me Greg.
I don't even think that many of the 3rd party coolers are going to be much cop tbh.

 

[flopper]

Honestly the heat isn't a big deal as some people seem to be making out. Very few people buy top of the range enthusiast cards then leave them on stock cooling. Reference boards in particular.

More wattage required isn't ideal, but price : performance is spectacular in all honesty.

very few run their cpu with stock cooler.
so why dont people do that?

 

[Marine-RX179]

Way too hot, fast as hell but too hot.

Yea. I'd wait for custom cooled version of the cards, or whatever Gibbo's bringing out with 3rd party air-cooled version (hopefully not at too high a price premium).

IMO, the 290x is probably just clocked with a high based clock with a high voltage for the sake or showing it's "beating" GTX780 and even the Titan; if people is willing, they could probably undervolt and downclock the 290x to matches GTX780's performance- it might still be 5-6C hotter than the GTX780, but it would at least be £50~£100 cheaper.

 

[teppic]

Not to burst peoples bubbles but is it just me or is anyone else thinking that water cooling is a must for these reference 290X's? Those temps alone do put me off (and I know AMD have stated this is within the cards working parameters) but the noise is a no no.

Custom cooled cards for the noise and heat conscious among us and reference for those who don't care about heat and noise because they are water cooling.

Reference 7970s were hot and noisy too. A decent air cooler will make all the difference. The 95C is a target, it'll run slower than that of course at a lower temp, or the same speed at a lower temp with a better cooler that can draw the heat away quicker.

 

[Yaayuh!]

I'd never buy a reference card from either brand.

Same here.
Apart from the GTX690 of course, that cooler does a great job.

 

[drunkenmaster]

Why do people care about the temp, at all. Why is it okay for an Intel cpu to run at 80C when an AMD cpu runs at 65C, people move from AMD to Intel and you get threads of "OMG, wtf, my cpu is burning up, the house is about to explode, if I was at that temp I'd be dead".

It's all nonsense, IC's can be designed to work anywhere from sub zero temps to upwards of 150C.

A 95C temp on a chip that is designed for 50C is "too hot", a 95c temp on a chip that is designed to run at 95C is just right, a 95C temp on a chip that is designed to run at 150C is really ruddy cold.

People get specific temps stuck in their head as do not pass points, based on other chips, which is just nonsense. The VRM's on many AMD/Nvidia cards have been running over 100C under full load... does that make it terrible.

As for the stock cooler arguments, cpus and motherboards adhere to predetermined socket standards which means there are a multitude of third party coolers before the release of any new cpu. This is not the case for GPU's, nor do most GPU makers allow the warranty to remain intact when you remove a gpu cooler, nor do then design a "socket" or removal of heatsink method that makes it easy and pretty safe to change the cooler.

Fact is blowers are good for xfire alone and even then only in bad cases. non blower coolers should be standard for Nvidia and AMD, 98% of people don't sli/xfire, those that do exceptionally few stick them in tiny cases or use more than two cards so triple slot all but silent "normal" coolers would work better for 99% of buyers.

Non reference cards usually use the reference PCB and replace a cooler that costs probably £20 with one that costs £40, paying £100 more for £10-20 of extra cooling power is a joke and always has been.

AMD/Nvidia really should be working better with the guys who make third party coolers to get them available for or at least very close to launch and to not void a warranty in using one. Running their gpu's at lower temps will only improve reliability, performance, noise and as such the general positive experience of all their users.

If they all came with a pretty thick, quality backplate to brace the card making it much harder to damage it and force other gpu coolers to make something that fits to said backplate, it would make changing gpu coolers much easier and safer also.

 

[MooMoo444]

very few run their cpu with stock cooler.
so why dont people do that?

you're proving my point, not sure if you intended it to come across that way.

Nobody cares for the stock cooler on CPU's, because it's the performance that matters. Why don't people see the same for the GPU's?

 

[nickrorschach]

Should be getting my Sapphire 290x tomorrow. I haven't had an AMD card since the Radeon 9800 Pro and this is a step up from a single 580, so looking forward to it.

If these temp issues are a major problem, do you think it would be feasible to change the cooler at a later date? I'm pretty rubbish with hardware, don't know how these things work.

 

[Gregster]

I'd never buy a reference card from either brand.

I would normally agree with this but since having the balls to water cool, it doesn't worry me and being a little bias, the Titan cooler is different gravy to normal stock coolers.

 

[Uncle Petey]

Should be getting my Sapphire 290x tomorrow. I haven't had an AMD card since the Radeon 9800 Pro and this is a step up from a single 580, so looking forward to it.

If these temp issues are a major problem, do you think it would be feasible to change the cooler at a later date? I'm pretty rubbish with hardware, don't know how these things work.

No problem at all, although it's a bit unfortunate that you didn't go for an MSI card as they won't void your warranty for removing the cooler when you buy from here.

 

[Make]

Fact is blowers are good for xfire alone and even then only in bad cases. non blower coolers should be standard for Nvidia and AMD, 98% of people don't sli/xfire, those that do exceptionally few stick them in tiny cases or use more than two cards so triple slot all but silent "normal" coolers would work better for 99% of buyers.

Non reference cards usually use the reference PCB and replace a cooler that costs probably £20 with one that costs £40, paying £100 more for £10-20 of extra cooling power is a joke and always has been.

Not all blowers are created equal.

KFA2 GTX 670's use non-reference PCB's, The "Basic" 670 has a blower that looks like reference, the 670 OC has a "bigger" fan on the blower, and the 670 EX OC is a totally different cooler. And KFA2 says they do not use reference coolers or PCB's.

As it happens, my 670 OC "blower" is pretty silent compaired to reference (on reviews). But that's an old card now.

Anyway, blowers are not all bad.

 

[teppic]

Nobody cares for the stock cooler on CPU's, because it's the performance that matters. Why don't people see the same for the GPU's?

I think people are here assuming that measuring 95C core temp means more heat generated than 80C core temp on a different GPU+cooler, when all it means is the cooler performance.

 

[nickrorschach]

No problem at all, although it's a bit unfortunate that you didn't go for an MSI card as they won't void your warranty for removing the cooler when you buy from here.

Ah, lesson learnt. Frustrating because i did some research - having been an EVGA\NVIDIA customer for so long - and chose Sapphire because they seemed to be one of the better AMD vendors for RMA, warranty etc and i also noticed the RAM thing re: overclocking in the other thread.

Ah well, if AMD say the temps are safe, i guess the temps are safe. The noise doesn't bother me much (although the 580 was a pretty quiet card, and perhaps i've got used to it).

 

[ubersonic]

I think people are here assuming that measuring 95C core temp means more heat generated than 80C core temp on a different GPU+cooler, when all it means is the cooler performance.

I believe I am correct in saying that the stock 290X cooler has the same internals as the 7970 one? which would imply to me that Windforce/Lightning/etc 290X cards will perform much better on cooling and overclockability?

---------

I am pretty impressed by this card prices starting at £430 on launch day, Titan matching/beating performance out of the box, looks good, can match a GTX770 in WoW (not a dig, that's impressive for an AMD card due to the Nvidia favoring engine). Defiantly an excellent price/performance monster

 

[Marine-RX179]

Ah, lesson learnt. Frustrating because i did some research - having been an EVGA\NVIDIA customer for so long - and chose Sapphire because they seemed to be one of the better AMD vendors for RMA, warranty etc and i also noticed the RAM thing re: overclocking in the other thread.

Just to avoid any confusion, the MSI's offer of warranty covering cooler removal is only official if you bought it from OcUK, but not anywhere else.

 

[teppic]

I believe I am correct in saying that the stock 290X cooler has the same internals as the 7970 one? which would imply to me that Windforce/Lightning/etc 290X cards will perform much better on cooling and overclockability?

I've heard that they're basically the same, but rubbish reference AMD coolers are normal (the CPUs have bad coolers too). Obviously if you stick on a better cooler and keep everything else the same, the core temp will drop, quite possibly by 20-30C. That doesn't mean less heat is being produced of course.

 

[Uncle Petey]

I believe I am correct in saying that the stock 290X cooler has the same internals as the 7970 one? which would imply to me that Windforce/Lightning/etc 290X cards will perform much better on cooling and overclockability?

It's virtually the exact same thing.
I have to say that my ref cooler performed pretty well and not much different to a decent 3rd party solution, it was just the bloody noise of it.

I'd say that they will perform better, but I wouldn't expect temp drop miracles beyond 10°C or so. Noise wise, they'd help a hell of a lot though.
Maybe something like the Toxic cooler would make a substantial difference.

ED:

Spoiler

R9-290X ref cooler:




7970 Ref cooler (mine in fact):

Hope you've got waterblocks on pre-order too

 

[Gibbo]

**UPDATE**

Hynix and Elpida are both just as good as each other.

I took my Elpida card which could only do 5700MHz, flashed the Asus BIOS to it, pumped up the voltage and now the Elpida card is matching with 6600MHz.

So there you go, Elpida, Hynix, it don't matter. What matters is voltage control.

Asus BIOS FTW.

By the way this is an R290 I've flashed with R290X BIOS, works a tread, but shaders not unlocked, but can now hit 1220 core and 6600 RAM on the regular R290 as well. At these speeds this also obliverates Titan. Incredible value!

 

[teppic]

I'd say that they will perform better, but I wouldn't expect temp drop miracles beyond 10°C or so. Noise wise, they'd help a hell of a lot though.
Maybe something like the Toxic cooler would make a substantial difference.

I never had a reference 7970, but my Asus 7970 DirectCUII would rarely get above 60C full out, with also going from 925MHz reference to 1125MHz, and with the fans barely audible. A three slot cooler, but an enormous difference in temps and noise, even with much higher clocks.

 

[Gripen90]

Running 3 of these on air in TriFire in a closed case I'd fear a nuclear holocaust !
Also the heat exhausted from then cards I'd definitely be sure I haven't any curtains or paper-bins behind it - I'd be afraid something would catch fire.