R9 290X Owners Thread

GoogalyMoogaly · 30 Aug 2014 at 10:30

One thing to keep in mind Matt when you go X99 (I think you said you were, maybe when Freesync is out do a big upgrade?), is to get a motherboard with the same PCI-e spacing options. Unless you have a board with a PCI-e where the RIVE's black slot is it could mean that at least 2 of the cards will be right next to each other, which I can't imagine will help with the temps. Think Asus have a couple of £300 boards that will do it though.

old gamer · 30 Aug 2014 at 22:18

LtMatt said:
Stunning cards. I tell you, It's going to take some time getting used to have three silent air cooled gpu's in my system.

Remember folks, you can never have too many Radeons!

Ltmatt not only a member of the 290 owners club but the president

smogsy · 30 Aug 2014 at 22:20

its no good random Asus card is making it look odd you need to buy 2 more

or buy x99 and go 5 way Xfire?

thefogo · 31 Aug 2014 at 19:37

I looked at getting the PowerColor Devil 13 290X X2 that's currently on offer, but checked a few reviews and it's apparently louder than the 6990

I find that hard to believe, but most of the reviews report the same.

Kaapstad · 31 Aug 2014 at 22:11

smogsy said:
its no good random Asus card is making it look odd you need to buy 2 more or buy x99 and go 5 way Xfire?

4 way is max even if you can get 5 cards on a mobo.

smogsy · 31 Aug 2014 at 22:30

im pretty sure Nvidia/AMD will be updating with x99 just to be the first

imagine if X launched it first. They will be shoving down the other throat. Even if it makes 0.00001% difference its PR

Kaapstad · 1 Sep 2014 at 00:52

smogsy said:
im pretty sure Nvidia/AMD will be updating with x99 just to be the first

imagine if X launched it first. They will be shoving down the other throat. Even if it makes 0.00001% difference its PR

I think the idea of having 5 slots is more to do with using the extra card for physics or some other task.

As for going beyond 4 way GPU setups both AMD and NVidia could do it easy if they wanted to. All you need is three dual GPU cards and you could have 6 way but neither AMD or NV have chosen to go that way and I can not see it happening on X99.

Another thing against it is the X99 platform itself, it is the worst overclocking setup I have seen for a long time and would bottleneck 3 cards let alone 5.

LtMatt · 1 Sep 2014 at 07:37

thefogo said:
I looked at getting the PowerColor Devil 13 290X X2 that's currently on offer, but checked a few reviews and it's apparently louder than the 6990
I find that hard to believe, but most of the reviews report the same.

That's odd as the 6990 was only reference design wasn't it? I'm surprised the price of that 295x2 has come down so much. If it was me I'd be going for the AIO version and sticking some Noctua Industrials on the rad.

gareth170 · 1 Sep 2014 at 08:16

LtMatt said:
That's odd as the 6990 was only reference design wasn't it?

yes.

smogsy · 1 Sep 2014 at 08:27

LtMatt said:
That's odd as the 6990 was only reference design wasn't it? I'm surprised the price of that 295x2 has come down so much. If it was me I'd be going for the AIO version and sticking some Noctua Industrials on the rad.

why when 2 290x are cheaper? just for the cooling?

LtMatt · 1 Sep 2014 at 08:30

smogsy said:
why when 2 290x are cheaper? just for the cooling?

Yeah having used AIB 3x290X tri fire a cooling solution like the 295x2 would be ideal as most of the heat would be escaping out of the case. That would allow you to run a third card alongside without all the problems.

smogsy · 1 Sep 2014 at 09:23

but you could waterblock ok lot cash but you still could

wonder what would be cheaper 295x+290x or 3 290x + watercooling

thefogo · 1 Sep 2014 at 10:10

LtMatt said:
That's odd as the 6990 was only reference design wasn't it? I'm surprised the price of that 295x2 has come down so much. If it was me I'd be going for the AIO version and sticking some Noctua Industrials on the rad.

Yeah it was a little blower fan in the middle. Crazy loud. As loud as two 290s.

thefogo · 1 Sep 2014 at 10:18

You still having overheating problems with the XFX cards Matt?

~Mike~ · 1 Sep 2014 at 10:24

smogsy said:
but you could waterblock ok lot cash but you still could

wonder what would be cheaper 295x+290x or 3 290x + watercooling

If your're going to do it properly then 290x's with water blocks for sure.

Kaapstad · 1 Sep 2014 at 13:20

smogsy said:
but you could waterblock ok lot cash but you still could

wonder what would be cheaper 295x+290x or 3 290x + watercooling

For watercooling forget the 295X2, it won't keep up with 290Xs.

gareth170 · 2 Sep 2014 at 07:37

has anyone bought a powercolor 290x PCS+ recently? because i would like to know if the under performing issue has been fixed.

if it has been fixed, i'll put the original bios back on my card then rma it.

Kaapstad · 7 Sep 2014 at 15:03

A couple of Sapphire 290X Vapor X OC reviews placed in OP

Generation GPU
PC Experience.de

davisdavid · 7 Sep 2014 at 17:10

So I finally got round to upgrading my rig with a complete new build which now allows me to be a legitimate poster in the 290x owners thread.

I have all the parts but can't build until I return back to the UK next week

Anyway the new build will be:

Phanteks Enthoo Primo
i7-4790k
MSi Z97 Gaming 9 AC
16Gb (2x8) Kingston HyperX 2400Mhz
2 x 4Gb MSi R9 290x
Superflower 1000w Platinum 80+
Monitor - Cannot decide for the life of me :confused:

Any hints/tips/advice/avoidance's/must do's etc prior to throwing the 290x's in?

I'm thinking I can run them on with the twin frozr coolers for the time being until I can afford a decent upgrade to the custom loop on the CPU and I can place them in slots 1 and 3 to minimise heat on the top card, the mobo has quite large spacing as it is so shouldn't see extreme temperatures.

Any nuggets of information will be much appreciated

Kaapstad · 9 Sep 2014 at 08:37

ASUS ROG R9 290X MATRIX Platinum Video Card Review @HardOCP placed in OP.

http://hardocp.com/article/2014/09/08/asus_rog_r9_290x_matrix_platinum_video_card_review#.VA6tnmcg_9Z