***Powercolor PCS+ R9 290 Mini Review***

[humbug]

It was more the Star Swam latencies, I was under the impression bottlenecks on that all came from an API bottleneck rather then being CPU bound. If this is true (and to be fair what we've been getting told since it came out!) then SS AMD DX is giving you 75ms, while on nvidia its giving ~30ms on the same API.

BF4 single card latencies are around the same as an nvidia card in DX both hitting around 12-13ms.

I'm not commenting or taking anything away from the mantle results as it shows its doing what it says on the tin, more a concern that DX may still be fudged somewhat on the 14.x drivers.

The Star Swarm results quite clearly states; DX 13.24ms and Mantle 7.29ms, 75ms does not exist, no idea where you got that from?

"BF4 single card latencies are around the same as an nvidia card in DX both hitting around 12-13ms."

Is that on a Phenom II? no, it isn't.

 

[humbug]

If you are going to get a sandy/ivy setup then don't touch the z68 chipset, get a z77 or something else.

My gigabyte z68 was blue screening all over the place with a 290x and a 290 on all drivers. Swapped for a z77 and it was 100% fine.

Thanks for that, i didn't know that about the z68

 

[humbug]

It was more the Star Swam latencies, I was under the impression bottlenecks on that all came from an API bottleneck rather then being CPU bound. If this is true (and to be fair what we've been getting told since it came out!) then SS AMD DX is giving you 75ms, while on nvidia its giving ~30ms on the same API.

BF4 single card latencies are around the same as an nvidia card in DX both hitting around 12-13ms.

I'm not commenting or taking anything away from the mantle results as it shows its doing what it says on the tin, more a concern that DX may still be fudged somewhat on the 14.x drivers.

"SS AMD DX is giving you 75ms, while on nvidia its giving ~30ms on the same API."

Completely useless information. if the Nvidia setup is using a £450 i7 then i'm doing very well in getting 25ms latency on a 4 year old AMD CPU, thats the whole point of Mantle, that proves its working, 25ms is better than NV ~30ms, whats the problem?

"BF4 single card latencies are around the same as an nvidia card in DX both hitting around 12-13ms."

As above, yet it doesn't anyway, a 780TI gets less FPS http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=26157610&postcount=58

you have no point to make here. just a lot of noise about nothing.

 

[humbug]

Honestly man, I'm out but in future learn to read everything what someone posts, not take little bits DM style and turn it into some sort of warped hate campaign.

Well what was the point?

I'm using a 4 year old AMD CPU and am getting better latencies in Mantle than Nvidia are on a much more powerful CPU.

You said it yourself so many times. Mantle is about CPU bottlenecks.

 

[humbug]

Read things over perhaps?



Then answered by the gent below.



So what is your problem then humbug? Any time someone tries to raise a point with you or ask a question you go off on a rampage for absolutely no reason. If you don't like the company we keep here at OcUK then by all means go elsewhere. Things will happen and things will be said that you don't always agree with, that doesn't give you any right to speak to people the way you do on this forum. You constantly talk down and dismiss people that don't share the same train of thought or viewpoint as you. Its pathetic and disgusting.

"If you don't like the company we keep here at OcUK then by all means go elsewhere." your not getting rid of me that easy

I was using 14.3 Drivers, not 14.1, its written in my GPU-Z screenie. While you don't want to talk about Mantle that is exactly what i am taking about.

So the answer to 'your' question is; no, there is nothing wrong with DX performance.

 

[humbug]

Was that so hard to be civil in your reply? Thought not

btw, one of these cards is currently on the MM for £260 if you want some CF action.

I'm looking for a new CPU first, Christ. let me worry about CF when i have the right amount of Muscle to power it all.

 

[humbug]

In all honesty I would say aim for a decent 3820 x79 bundle, plenty of power, all have 16/16x PCI, high bandwidth quad channel memory and leaves you open to a hex core upgrade further down the line when 3930/4930k's become dirt cheap and shouldn't cost you much of anything more then an i7 sandy/ivy bundle.

I've used z68, z77, x79 and now z87, I genuinely wish I'd stuck with x79, a superb platform.

Are they unlocked? http://ark.intel.com/products/63698/Intel-Core-i7-3820-Processor-10M-Cache-up-to-3_80-GHz

 

[humbug]

Yes, just not in the traditional sense, the multiplier only go's as high as 42 (maybe 43?) but X79's main feature is the base clock straps of 1.0x, 1.25x, 1.67x & 2.5x.

So take your base clock thats 100mhz, apply 1.25x strap gives you a base clock of 125mhz then adjust multiplier from that to get what ever clocks you desire, a little like clocking X58 iirc.

So 100mhz x 1.25 = 125mhz x 39x core multiplier gives ~4.8ghz and so on and so forth. Just remember memory multiplier also works from the same base so you may need to adjust the MMP as well but it just adds to the fun.

Ok thats good, even if limited if it does have an unlocked Multiplier then i'm happy with that.

One thing i hated about the X58 was messing on with the FSB and memory multipliers, its was like going back to an early Athlon.

They are cheaper than the 3770K so its a good option to keep my eye out for, thanks

I will keep this quote for future instructions.

 

[humbug]

8 Pack has a guide up in his sub forum just for X79 clocking its very helpful too. The one thing I can stress with X79 is to get a decent memory kit, you won't have a good time on some generic 1600C9 stuff with a 3820. 1866/2133C9 is what I'd recommend as a minimum.

ok

 

[humbug]

Yup ^^^ thanks

 

[humbug]

I make it 8% overclock on the core and not 19%, 1237Mhz would be a 19% overclock.

947Mhz to 1125Mhz is +18.8%

I have a 1225Mhz Overclock here which is +29.4%

Very interested In getting this card any ideas what the warranty process is via ocuk?

also i have a good quality 750w PSU i know this is required or greater rest of the spec below would i need to contemplate an upgrade also not planning any kind of overclocking on the card

4790k ghz no overclock
8gb ddr3 ram 1600mhz

In that case OcUK deal with the RMA, i'm pretty sure, double check with them

 

[humbug]

Hey humbug; nice review.......but can I ask what the length of the card is? that's the one I'm seriously considering but need to make sure it will fit LOL

29.5cm ish

Yeah its not exactly compact.

Case is a haf 912 with the detachable excess drive bays removed.
and sorry about the state of it, i need to get my duster out

 

[humbug]

i find the auto fan profile to be annoying with the hot weather it does get rather loud when its not needed on auto it sits at 60c but the fans go up to 60-70%

if i obviously stick the fan profile lets say 50c it never goes about 60 and its vastly quieter

my question is would i have to keep going into settings and keep changing the profile speed every time i want to game or is there a quicker way?

edit:just realised i could just set it to an appropriate speed and just make sure temps stay below 75c ? keeping fan speed consistant wont reduce life would it?

This is exactly what I do, I use MSI AB to create a fan curve that keeps a lower quieter fan speed at 75c, there is no need for it to ramp up to 70% to keep it at 60c, its far to aggressive.

Its a reference PCB which means its rated to run at 95c, as the reference cooled ones do. 75c is nice and cool all things considered.

It's little things like this that really make a different to the end customer. More companies should take a leaf out of their book and follow suit imo.

+1 ^^^^

 

[humbug]

Under £200 now. Tempted to get a second one

Astonishing price for this card

 

[humbug]

not sure if a second will fit!!

What Case do you have?

 

[humbug]

Corsair Graphite 230T.

Physically it should fit but i would say the case is not big enough and doesn't have the necessary airflow.

Because they have an open cooler you would need a full sized case to space them far apart so they are not drawing in eachothers heat, and strong airflow to push the heat out.

 

[humbug]

I agree....... maybe in the future i'll get a new case and rebuilt, but to be honest I don't want a massive gaming tower taking up space.

While your here humbug, what everyday overclock are you running for gaming? Not really sure what this card is truly capable of.

Stable 24/7 overclocks vary from card to card, i run mine at 1125/1400 with +69mv (should already be at +50mv)

What overclocks have you attempted and how did it go?

 

[humbug]

1100/1400 +31 offset. TBH i don't really know what I'm doing but I have had no problems running mordor on it

Thats pretty good, keep in mind that these are factory overclocked, refrence they only run at 947/1250, it may not feel like +60/50Mhz is a lot.... its actually +153/150.

What people usually do to test overclocks is run benchmarks like Unigine and FutureMark

There isn't anything complex about overclocking, set the desired clocks and volts, if it doesn't crash or freeze its stable.

I was about to buy one of these, but then found out my PSU is only 700W (OCZ STEALTHXSTREAM 2 700W). Though it seems it may work after all according the The Internet.
Anyone with any insight on this?

700W is more than enough, BUT, that PSU has four 18A 12v Rails, that's not ideal as with low Amperage across so many rails could lead to one getting overloaded. its also an old PSU.

Can't say for sure.

 

[humbug]

Seems a good deal and this card should be fine for most games on standard 1920 screen?

It plays Crysis 3 and FarCry 4 with maximum IQ + 4x MSAA

 

[humbug]

Used mine with a modxtream OCZ 650 watt just fine.

That clears it up, thanks, i really wasn't sure