R9 290X Owners Thread

[JBod]

How does one flash the bios of these cards?

 

[Rusty0611]

I dont really care what the ref cooler can do because ill block it anyways. But its probably not as bad as everyone thinks. They just wont ramp up the fan speed. Complaining about temps at 30% fan speed? sSeriously? Increase the fan speed... Its a REF COOLER. Its the actual CARD that is the gem in this package. Get a block or put an aftermarket cooler on it.

You're making excuses for something that is poor. I'm not saying it can't be worked around or it is a negative for everyone but it is undeniably poor.

People shouldn't have to WC or take it to bits to get an acceptable heat/noise balance while overclocking.

 

[Rangerjr1]

If AMD made a good stock cooler the AIBs would rage, they make so much money off of AMD's stock cooler... AMD needs to keep them happy, lest they jump ship.

They are "Good" but most people just wont increase the fan speed. Other than that its just damn loud.

 

[sin]

Quiet and Uber. Quiet keeps the fan under 40% duty cycle. Uber lets it get up to 55%, and that’s too loud for me. So, I stick with Quiet mode. Once Hawaii is at 95 °C and the fan hits 40%, frequencies start retreating quickly. It’s not uncommon to see them bouncing between mid-700 to mid-800 MHz in single-card configs. In CrossFire, they’ll drop to 727 MHz and stay there. The bummer is that a more effective thermal solution could keep acoustics down and allow Hawaii to operate toward the top of its range more consistently.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-r9-290x-hawaii-review,review-32808-35.html

 

[Rusty0611]

They are "Good" but most people just wont increase the fan speed. Other than that its just damn loud.

Well they aren't "Good" then are they if they're too loud to use while ramped up? As I said: the balance between heat and noise is difficult to achieve.

Also you shouldn't have to mess around with the fan profiles really to stop it heavily throttling. GK110 only generally throttles by 13 MHz when it reaches its throttle limit. This is quite minor in comparison.

 

[Rangerjr1]

You're making excuses for something that is poor. I'm not saying it can't be worked around or it is a negative for everyone but it is undeniably poor.

People shouldn't have to WC or take it to bits to get an acceptable heat/noise balance while overclocking.

Im not making excuses, people are making excuses to call the cooler bad just because its loud when you ramp it up. Its a ref cooler, asus, msi, gigabyte has to have something to work on to create cards with appeal to air coolers. If AMD made the best cooler ever ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte etc etc would have no work to do...

Ramp it up, and the fan will keep the card cool. Why wont people utilize it?

 

[sin]

Noise tests

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-r9-290x-hawaii-review,review-32808-30.html

 

[Rusty0611]

Im not making excuses, people are making excuses to call the cooler bad just because its loud when you ramp it up. Its a ref cooler, asus, msi, gigabyte has to have something to work on to create cards with appeal to air coolers. If AMD made the best cooler ever ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte etc etc would have no work to do...

Ramp it up, and the fan will keep the card cool. Why wont people utilize it?

Because it's too loud.

The rest of what you've said is complete nonsense because those three AIBs also sell nVidia cards as well and the reference nVidia cooler is streets ahead in comparison.

Nobody needs an excuse to call the reference cooler bad - what on earth are you on about? It isn't up to scratch. That doesn't make the card bad for the points mentioned previously. You need to separate those points.

 

[Rangerjr1]

Because it's too loud.

The rest of what you've said is complete nonsense because those three AIBs also sell nVidia cards as well and the reference nVidia cooler is streets ahead in comparison.

Nobody needs an excuse to call the reference cooler bad - what on earth are you on about? It isn't up to scratch. That doesn't make the card bad for the points mentioned previously. You need to separate those points.

it isnt up to scratch to do what? Keep it from dying? Thats all it needs to do. And it will do way better than that if you increase the fan speed. Stop acting as if you deserve more.

 

[Diagro]

Because it's too loud.

The rest of what you've said is complete nonsense because those three AIBs also sell nVidia cards as well and the reference nVidia cooler is streets ahead in comparison.

Nobody needs an excuse to call the reference cooler bad - what on earth are you on about? It isn't up to scratch. That doesn't make the card bad for the points mentioned previously. You need to separate those points.

Too loud? Buy some headphones.

 

[Rusty0611]

it isnt up to scratch to do what? Keep it from dying? Thats all it needs to do. And it will do way better than that if you increase the fan speed. Stop acting as if you deserve more.

lmao

I can't believe you're so irate defending a cooler which isn't good enough. I don't know if you've got something wrong with your eyes but I've already said that people aren't increasing the fan speed that much because it is becoming too loud.

I don't deserve anything thanks because I've already got a 780 which is whisper quiet with the reference cooler all the way up to 1200 and then becomes audible above this level. But people deserve a cooler which is better than the one supplied. It's that simple. Sure the AMD card is far, far cheaper than the comparative nVidia card but that reflects the lateness to the market for this generation as opposed to anything else.

At the end of the day the thermal issues aren't exactly hidden so people know what they're getting before they buy. But you can't exactly say the cooler is up to scratch coherently when it isn't. As I will say again, this doesn't make it a bad card... far from it... it just comes with compromises until AIBs release custom cooled ones or if you're watercooling from the start.

Too loud? Buy some headphones.

Again, that's making excuses for something which is fundamentally poor.

 

[Rangerjr1]

Too loud? Buy some headphones.

+1

Or block it.

 

[Rangerjr1]

lmao

I can't believe you're so irate defending a cooler which isn't good enough. I don't know if you've got something wrong with your eyes but I've already said that people aren't increasing the fan speed that much because it is becoming too loud.

I don't deserve anything thanks because I've already got a 780 which is whisper quiet with the reference cooler all the way up to 1200 and then becomes audible above this level. But people deserve a cooler which is better than the one supplied. It's that simple. Sure the AMD card is far, far cheaper than the comparative nVidia card but that reflects the lateness to the market for this generation as opposed to anything else.

At the end of the day the thermal issues aren't exactly hidden so people know what they're getting before they buy. But you can't exactly say the cooler is up to scratch coherently when it isn't. As I will say again, this doesn't make it a bad card... far from it... it just comes with compromises until AIBs release custom cooled ones or if you're watercooling from the start.



Again, that's making excuses for something which is fundamentally poor.

I can imagine DCII and TF3 cards will cost more, maybe even equal to the price of a waterblock. So i honestly dont see the issue. The cooler WILL keep the card alive. And yea i know, 780s and titans do have good coolers, better than AMDs.

 

[Rusty0611]

I can imagine DCII and TF3 cards will cost more, maybe even equal to the price of a waterblock. So i honestly dont see the issue. The cooler WILL keep the card alive. And yea i know, 780s and titans do have good coolers, better than AMDs.

You're still missing the point I'm afraid. If all you're aiming for with a cooler is to keep the card alive when paying £450 then you have really low expectations. There really is no excuse for it and just because you're watercooling or fitting a custom cooler yourself doesn't mean it's acceptable for everyone.

This isn't about nVidia vs AMD - I was just bringing those cards in as a point of reference.

 

[Rangerjr1]

You're still missing the point I'm afraid. If all you're aiming for with a cooler is to keep the card alive when paying £450 then you have really low expectations. There really is no excuse for it and just because you're watercooling or fitting a custom cooler yourself doesn't mean it's acceptable for everyone.

This isn't about nVidia vs AMD - I was just bringing those cards in as a point of reference.

Well at 450 with titan/780~ performance (ON STOCK) ill have to say its damn acceptable. Even on the ref cooler it can be oced.

 

[VincentHanna]

Increase the damn fan speed then. Why are you even complaining when you arent utilizing the cooler properly? Its your own fault, not AMDs.

I have, I've already said that before that I'm having to use 55% speed.

It doss sound ridiculous though and I was presuming from the reviews that 40% should be good enough.

 

[MrMoonX]

Mines getting DSR'd cooler is a ****ing disgrace it's not fit for purpose! the card throttles at stock speeds in quiet mode that's unacceptable by a long way

 

[Rangerjr1]

Because it sounds ridiculous and I was presuming from the reviews that 40% should be good enough.

Idk, maybe your case has crap airflow.

 

[Rangerjr1]

Mines getting DSR'd cooler is a ****ing disgrace it's not fit for purpose! the card throttles at stock speeds in quiet mode that's unacceptable by a log way

Yea i cant really take you seriously.

 

[Rusty0611]

Rangerjr1 - please just... stop .