I'm with funt darket, using two ref cards here. They do an excellent job at getting the heat out of the case. They do require some tweaking to get them running below 90C though. That tweaking involves changing the fan profile or lowering the voltage. Both of which are fairly easy (in my opinion) to anyone with a modicum of intelligence.
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R2 290 reference cooler and noise in silent mode?
- Thread starter yannis76
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I'm with funt darket, using two ref cards here. They do an excellent job at getting the heat out of the case. They do require some tweaking to get them running below 90C though. That tweaking involves changing the fan profile or lowering the voltage. Both of which are fairly easy (in my opinion) to anyone with a modicum of intelligence.
For you or I yes, but to say 'to anyone with a modicum of intelligence' is a little bit of a sweeping statement and doesn't reflect the thousands of people that DON'T 'tweak' anything and expect when they buy a product for it to work as intended out of the box.
No offence intended Matt but if AMD released a Card made out of cheese tomorrow that melted at 92 degrees you'd say that AMD designed it that way and that it's a great card.
For you or I yes, but to say 'to anyone with a modicum of intelligence' is a little bit of a sweeping statement and doesn't reflect the thousands of people that DON'T 'tweak' anything and expect when they buy a product for it to work as intended out of the box.
No offence intended Matt but if AMD released a Card made out of cheese tomorrow that melted at 92 degrees you'd say that AMD designed it that way and that it's a great card.
Well its simply a case of opening up CCC and using a couple of mouse clicks to set powertune settings and or a fan profile. You yourself said AMD give you the option to do that. In my opinion its not rocket science. CCC explains (albeit briefly) how you can control the temp/fan noise fairly easy. I consider that pretty basic stuff that most people can do if they open up overdrive.
As for your latter comment, i hate cheese so if AMD made a card out of cheese i wouldn't buy it.
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Well its simply a case of opening up CCC and using a couple of mouse clicks to set a powertune settings and or a fan profile. You yourself said AMD give you the option to do that. In my opinion its not rocket science. CCC explains (albeit briefly) how you can control the temp/fan noise fairly easy. I consider that pretty basic stuff that most people can do if they open up overdrive.
As for your latter comment, i hate cheese so if AMD made a card out of cheese i wouldn't buy it.
My point being that it shouldn't need messing about with just to get reasonable temps and performance, if only AMD had spent a little more effort with the cooler it would have been a MUCH better package , hell i'd still have my 290x crossfire setup and i wouldn't have this 290 i picked up cheap because the owner couldn't bare the noise anymore.
To put it into contrast Matt 90% of all my previous cards have been Ati/amd , god i even had a Rage fury Maxx, most of them were ref cooled. I dont need a degree in acoustics to know when somethings loud. This time AMD compromised massivly on the cooler, can you really tell me and everyone else that they didn't ? , and no, having the 'choice' in overdrive isnt an excuse.
It only needs messing with if you're unhappy with the high temps though. I find on auto fan the fan profile is quite slack and lazy and does not really kick up until the card approaches 90C. Its far from perfect though ill agree, but then you look at how dirt cheap these things are and you think (or i think) well fair enough ill take that.
I think we can all agree the reference cooler needs work. I think AMD know this and i think when the next card launches, it will be better, quieter and more efficient.
AMD didn't compromise on the cooler. They've always used this design. Its been this way for a very very long time. However this is the first time that the reference cooler has had to cool such a large chip and clearly its not ideal for it. I don't think we'll see the same cooler when the next AMD cards launch.
I'm fine using it though. I run a 10% core overclock and my temps are 1-2C higher than stock 780 reference temps and this is with a fan speed in the 50% range which i consider reasonably quiet. As always though noise is subjective, so YMMV. I'm quite happy, i got two cards for £100 less than reference 780'sd when i bought them and they're marginally faster too.
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Caporegime
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It needs messing with if you actually want the performance you paid for.
If you install drivers and then just leave it (Like the majority of people) the card will be running stupidly hot (Although not very loud) and will be throttling left right and centre.
I've never known a card to do that.
I've never known a card to be tweaked to run its base frequency.
If you install drivers and then just leave it (Like the majority of people) the card will be running stupidly hot (Although not very loud) and will be throttling left right and centre.
I've never known a card to do that.
I've never known a card to be tweaked to run its base frequency.
We have 290 pro's. The problem was AMD removed the Quiet/Uber modes of our cards and instead gave us a balanced profile of 47%. 47% is not quite enough to stop the throttling in all cases. 50% is however. They should have kept the quiet/uber options imo, but yes i agree with what you're saying.
Caporegime
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50% isn't enough to stop throttling unless you live in a freezing room and have 10 minute gaming stints.
AMD's first driver for the 290's was 40%, 47% was why cards were delayed.
AMD's first driver for the 290's was 40%, 47% was why cards were delayed.
Its fine for both of my cards in crossfire even with my case fans on low.
Caporegime
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Must be cold where you are.
During any long gaming stint, 50% would throttle for me quite easily.
At first, yeah I thought 47% looks like it'll stop throttling at -75mv, but after a proper gaming stint it throttled like hell.
Must be warm where you are.
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/1...em-but-nvidias-smear-attack-is-heavy-handed/3
Joel at Extremetech who tested a few 290's found 50% was enough to stop throttling in all cases. I found that with both of my cards together in the same case as well.
Caporegime
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Reviewers won't be gaming for long stints....
And their set up won't be anywhere near the conventional user.
But there's no point continuing really, you reckon it's fine, perhaps it is for you, but as far as I've seen, it's not for me. We'll say I live in a volcano, you live in Mr Freeze's lair.
And their set up won't be anywhere near the conventional user.
But there's no point continuing really, you reckon it's fine, perhaps it is for you, but as far as I've seen, it's not for me. We'll say I live in a volcano, you live in Mr Freeze's lair.
Caporegime
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Yeah, those ~180 second runs are killer.
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/1...em-but-nvidias-smear-attack-is-heavy-handed/2
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/1...em-but-nvidias-smear-attack-is-heavy-handed/2
He hasn't documented his gaming sessions no, but if it throttles during those he would've mentioned it to me when i quizzed him about it. He's thorough in his tests.
How long do you want me to leave my cards running to prove its enough?
Caporegime
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I don't need you to prove anything, because set ups are going to vary person to person.
But I know that in my own set up, undervolted, 50% wasn't enough.
And given ambient temperatures are raising with summer, well, results aren't going to be the same as they have been before.
But I know that in my own set up, undervolted, 50% wasn't enough.
And given ambient temperatures are raising with summer, well, results aren't going to be the same as they have been before.
EDIT
I'll give them 30 minutes of Unigine Valley just for fun. That normally produces higher temps than gaming i find.
EDIT 2
I'll wait till i get my 1440P Monitor back actually. I can't face sitting through Valley on this POS.
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Caporegime
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I have a pair in Crossfire, and they seem fine to me 
I do tend to have my speakers pretty loud during gaming though...
I do tend to have my speakers pretty loud during gaming though...
Caporegime
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I don't need you to prove anything.
Half an hour isn't much at all though.
I mean PROPER gaming sessions, 6 hours of gaming, the heat it pumps out warms up the room, warms up everything as suddenly your PC's in taking warmer air etc etc.
50% wasn't enough.
Half an hour isn't much at all though.
I mean PROPER gaming sessions, 6 hours of gaming, the heat it pumps out warms up the room, warms up everything as suddenly your PC's in taking warmer air etc etc.
50% wasn't enough.
