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

Gregster · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:09

http://wccftech.com/amd-talks-coolers-nextgen-radeon-hd-8000-series/

I remember this from about 5 months ago. Just wondering if this is the better cooler they were talking about or if they are going to use that on the 20nm GPU's.

Gerard · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:09

Scougar said:
Given that it's pretty much the same cooler as the 7970?

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Gallery/296009,amd-radeon-hd-7970-reference-disassembly-guide.aspx/24

Not exactly the best design for cooling on the planet. It's a cheaply made cooler.

But would you know that just by looking at it and not taking it apart or looking at reviews? Nope. You don't know what lurks under the shroud or what changes have been made. So realistically you can't tell "just by looking at it" which is the point I'm making.

Gerard · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:11

Gregster said:
http://wccftech.com/amd-talks-coolers-nextgen-radeon-hd-8000-series/

I remember this from about 5 months ago. Just wondering if this is the better cooler they were talking about or if they are going to use that on the 20nm GPU's.

God knows, they really have half assed their coolers for so long now its getting to be a joke. With their HQ in Canada you'd think they would know about getting things chilly

Gregster · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:14

Maybe Terrence and Philip are the chief designers?

Gerard · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:15

Gregster said:
Maybe Terrence and Philip are the chief designers?

Would explain a lot

Scougar · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:18

Gerard said:
But would you know that just by looking at it and not taking it apart or looking at reviews? Nope. You don't know what lurks under the shroud or what changes have been made. So realistically you can't tell "just by looking at it" which is the point I'm making.

Don't be deliberately obtuse. In a few reviews they have removed the cooler and it is pretty obvious it's pretty much the same unit. Slap that on a hotter card and you are going to get higher temps. Sure, they could have changed a few minor details (like Intel Stock coolers as you go up the model range), but it's not exactly a winning unit.

This is a top end card, and really should have got something a bit better.

Uncle Petey · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:19

Gerard said:
Suppose it depends on how intrusive it is while playing, amd cards reaching 90c+ isn't exactly anything new, my cards routinely get to 90c+ as did my old x1900 cards. They definitely need to try and come up with something better in the future, its one area they need to improve and it seems to be the last area they try to improve.

I'm just wondering how someone would have the clairvoyance needed to reach the conclusion that its a "rubbish cooler" just by looking at it. Take the shroud off the titan cooler and the shroud off this and side by side they'd more than likely look pretty similar, just seems like he's regurgitating TTL's 15+ minutes about it looking cheap and basing it off that.

It is virtually identical to the 7970 ref cooler (which I've had) with the exception of slightly different intake/exhaust points. Other than that...

I found that to be very intrusive, but that's subjective. Either way, no one can deny that these things are stupidly loud when run over 40-50% and not that quiet under those speeds with fairly poor cooling to boot.

As you say, they need to fix up and bring something new to the table.
Even if 90c is ok, I certainly wouldn't be happy about it.

Even TTL said that the original 7970 ref cooler looked nice compared to the new one for whatever that's worth

Gerard · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:20

Uncle Petey said:
It is virtually identical to the 7970 ref cooler (which I've had) with the exception of slightly different intake/exhaust points. Other than that...

I found that to be very intrusive, but that's subjective. Either way, no one can deny that these things are stupidly loud when run over 40-50% and not that quiet under those speeds with fairly poor cooling to boot.

As you say, they need to fix up and bring something new to the table.
Even if 90c is ok, I certainly wouldn't be happy about it.

Even TTL said that the original 7970 ref cooler looked nice compared to the new one for whatever that's worth

Seems the shiny vs matt black threw him off

Uncle Petey · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:22

I guess. I don't know what his problem is, as it's not like you can even see the bloody thing in 99% of cases...

Gerard · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:23

Scougar said:
Don't be deliberately obtuse. In a few reviews they have removed the cooler and it is pretty obvious it's pretty much the same unit. Slap that on a hotter card and you are going to get higher temps. Sure, they could have changed a few minor details (like Intel Stock coolers as you go up the model range), but it's not exactly a winning unit.

This is a top end card, and really should have got something a bit better.

As I said, with the shroud attached and with no reviews you'd have no idea of performance. Its only when its opened up its obvious that not much has changed from the 7970.

Gerard · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:24

Uncle Petey said:
I guess. I don't know what his problem is, as it's not like you can even see the bloody thing in 99% of cases...

The 690 cooler shook things up I suppose, beforehand nobody really cared that much, now it seems to be the "in thing" that your cards cooler has some "bling". :eek:

RavenXXX2 · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:25

nvidia leads the way in reference cooler design and performance, amd should up their game in that department especially for for gpu's priced at £400+.

Uncle Petey · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:29

Gerard said:
The 690 cooler shook things up I suppose, beforehand nobody really cared that much, now it seems to be the "in thing" that your cards cooler has some "bling".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they do seem to do a decent enough job without a massive volume penalty don't they?

Sure, TTL does blabber on about aesthetics way too much like it's the be all and end all, but he did make a few good points after the 23min mark as someone else pointed.

flopper · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:30

Scougar said:
This is a top end card, and really should have got something a bit better.

4930k sells without a high end cooler cost 500euro here.
could say that to intel also.
and btw they dont make a thirdparty sell their processors with another cooler down the line.

Uncle Petey · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:39

flopper said:
4930k sells without a high end cooler cost 500euro here.
could say that to intel also.
and btw they dont make a thirdparty sell their processors with another cooler down the line.

That's hardly an apples to apples comparison. Do any cpu's sell with a high end cooler?
How do you think the 4930K would run with a bog standard intel cooler on it?

Scougar · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:51

Uncle Petey said:
That's hardly an apples to apples comparison. Do any cpu's sell with a high end cooler?
How do you think the 4930K would run with a bog standard intel cooler on it?

I believe some AMD FX do/did sell with a watercooler option... but generally speaking, no. It was a totally ridiculous comparison on his part.

I honestly have no idea what some of these guys are smoking sometimes, arguing just to argue.

Scougar · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:53

RavenXXX2 said:
nvidia leads the way in reference cooler design and performance, amd should up their game in that department especially for for gpu's priced at £400+.

Yup. Nvidia really had a problem, and then they did something about it with the 580 I seem to recall with the vapour chamber stuff?

Gerard · 25 Oct 2013 at 17:57

Uncle Petey said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but they do seem to do a decent enough job without a massive volume penalty don't they?

Sure, TTL does blabber on about aesthetics way too much like it's the be all and end all, but he did make a few good points after the 23min mark as someone else pointed.

It would be interesting to know how much the titan cooler actually adds to the cost, IIRC the 690 cooler was made with some different metals which were replaced for the titan and 780, or possibly just the 780 as it was the cheaper card of the three.

I don't really care about as aesthetics as im not going to be gazing into my case in wonder of it for hours on end, but if amd could come up with something that is as good performance wise its a step in the right direction, doesn't need to be as "blingy" just functional and it needs to dump the air outside the case.

RavenXXX2 · 25 Oct 2013 at 18:13

Gerard said:
It would be interesting to know how much the titan cooler actually adds to the cost, IIRC the 690 cooler was made with some different metals which were replaced for the titan and 780, or possibly just the 780 as it was the cheaper card of the three.

It's about $50, this was said to be the extra cost for the 770 with a titan/780 cooler, by an employee of evga on their forums.

billyturbo · 25 Oct 2013 at 19:06

Orangey said:
DAB Some salt on that claim

The prices seem to flucuate wildly here; some days the purple-boxed Sapphire 270x and 280x are around £150 and £220 respectively, other days they are around £180 and £315. Weird. Also I can only see one 290X, and that's £590.