Help with Asus 290x ROG Matrix cooling

[Quixote]

Hi guys, I got one of these cards reduced from OCUK just before the 390s launched.
I knew the cooler wasn't the best but mine is terrible !
Even though it's at stock, it goes into the 90s when gaming and actually starts throttling the core clock back to the 900s. It also idles around 53 degrees.

I should have just returned it but I foolishly decided to replace the paste, in case it was badly done but it made no difference either way. So I broke the white dot sticker over the screw and have invalidated my warranty. It seems like the screws have a limit on how much they allow tightening. I suspect it may just need to be tighter.

Because it's a custom PCB, I believe I can't use a kraken G10 or any other 3rd party cooler.

Anyone got any ideas how I can cool this thing ? I actually like the performance and drivers but the temps and throttling is bad.

I know my water-cooling kit can be expanded to support a gpu too and EK make waterblocks for this particular card but it's a lot of money and I doubt my expertise.

I can't in all conscience sell the card, will I have to write it off ?

 

[passey89]

I had a non reference gtx980 gigabyte before and i managed to fit a kraken g10 and h55 on it just everything wasnt perfectly straight

 

[Quixote]

Thanks.
I'm just not sure I'm willing to risk it on a maybe. Its not just the expense but the time, too.
Thanks for your response though, it's something I'll consider.

 

[nashathedog]

Hi guys, I got one of these cards reduced from OCUK just before the 390s launched.
I knew the cooler wasn't the best but mine is terrible !
Even though it's at stock, it goes into the 90s when gaming and actually starts throttling the core clock back to the 900s. It also idles around 53 degrees.

I should have just returned it but I foolishly decided to replace the paste, in case it was badly done but it made no difference either way. So I broke the white dot sticker over the screw and have invalidated my warranty. It seems like the screws have a limit on how much they allow tightening. I suspect it may just need to be tighter.

Because it's a custom PCB, I believe I can't use a kraken G10 or any other 3rd party cooler.

Anyone got any ideas how I can cool this thing ? I actually like the performance and drivers but the temps and throttling is bad.

I know my water-cooling kit can be expanded to support a gpu too and EK make waterblocks for this particular card but it's a lot of money and I doubt my expertise.

I can't in all conscience sell the card, will I have to write it off ?

I've been trying to warn people who mention they are considering buying the Asus DCUII and MSI Twin Frozer Hawaii cards on this forum for months. I had the same problem with a Twin Frozer 290x gaming (Many of us have).

I found that the best way to run it is with an aggressive fan profile. When it hit's 40 degrees the fan ramps to 40%, when it hits 50 degrees it ramps to 50%, 60 degrees ramps to 60% and so on.
Doing that will keep it under 90 most of the time although certain games still hit 90 plus. I usually avoided throttling with that profile though.

 

[Quixote]

Thanks nashathedog, I knew they were mediocre but the reviews were saying more like 85 load and a bit noisy.

I've just been back and had another go with a different screwdriver head and I was able to tighten up the screws a fair bit more.
It now seems to run a bit cooler at stock but more importantly stayed at full speed without throttling at load - by the skin of it's teeth.
I saw as high as 93 deg but it didn't throttle and that was with a good half hour on metro 2033 (still one of the highest temp games I 've played, it's own sequel is about 10 deg cooler from what I saw). This is with the default fan profile that never goes above 55%, which is audible but quite tolerable.

This might just be good enough to use, still a craptacular piece of work by asus though, given that it was throttling out of the box. When you see how good Sapphire, MSI, Powercolour etc coolers are on the 390x's, there's no excuse for how bad this cooler is.

Now contact with the core seems better, I'll have a mess about with case fans to see if they improve airflow a touch more.

 

[passey89]

Thanks nashathedog, I knew they were mediocre but the reviews were saying more like 85 load and a bit noisy.

I've just been back and had another go with a different screwdriver head and I was able to tighten up the screws a fair bit more.
It now seems to run a bit cooler at stock but more importantly stayed at full speed without throttling at load - by the skin of it's teeth.
I saw as high as 93 deg but it didn't throttle and that was with a good half hour on metro 2033 (still one of the highest temp games I 've played, it's own sequel is about 10 deg cooler from what I saw). This is with the default fan profile that never goes above 55%, which is audible but quite tolerable.

This might just be good enough to use, still a craptacular piece of work by asus though, given that it was throttling out of the box. When you see how good Sapphire, MSI, Powercolour etc coolers are on the 390x's, there's no excuse for how bad this cooler is.

Now contact with the core seems better, I'll have a mess about with case fans to see if they improve airflow a touch more.

You think thats bad try 2 sapphire reference cooled 290x in crossfire. Think the air around mine started to catch fire.

 

[Quixote]

You think thats bad try 2 sapphire reference cooled 290x in crossfire. Think the air around mine started to catch fire.

That's one positive thing. Apart from some QC issues on the Fury Xs, it seems like AMD are finally taking stock cooling seriously, realising it affects the card's reputation throughout it's life.
The Fury & 390 series card's coolers are mostly really good out of the box, which is exactly how it should be.

Mine's close to acceptable now, hopefully I can tweak it a little more. If not, I might just lower the power target a bit to hit a sweet spot I'm comfortable with.
Still, wish I'd waited for the Powercolor 390 on this week - probably similar performance, twice the VRam, proper cooler and same price.

 

[Aretak]

I've been trying to warn people who mention they are considering buying the Asus DCUII and MSI Twin Frozer Hawaii cards on this forum for months. I had the same problem with a Twin Frozer 290x gaming (Many of us have).

At least MSI corrected their mistake and knocked it out of the park with their 390(X) cooler. Asus just slapped the same inadequate piece of garbage on there again. There's a version with their new tri-fan cooler apparently coming soon, but that hasn't exactly been getting rave reviews on other forums either. Looks really cheap and nasty underneath and the VRAM still isn't cooled by anything except air from the fans.

 

[P.B]

Is that the DCIII ?

 

[Quixote]

Ordered a Palit 970Gtx to replace it.

Now it runs without throttling (just) within designated temps and the noise isn't horrible even at load, I feel OK to sell 2nd hand.

Strongly considered the Powercolor 390 too - I still kind of feel that AMD wins performance and drivers right now but almost 100w less power draw tipped it for me.
I also do CG with Cinema 4D/ Maya/ Zbrush etc, so I could benefit from the 8GB RAM but on the other hand, I 've got an Octane render license which uses CUDA, so again pretty much a draw.

 

[P.B]

There isn't much between the 290x and 970 having used both I would say 970 is the better card the one time I felt it was superior was on bf4 with mantle