R9 290X Owners Thread

bakes0310 · 28 Oct 2013 at 09:39

Is one 290x better than 670SLI 2gb cards at 2560x1440?

TwsT · 28 Oct 2013 at 09:45

Gibbo said:
Check my review, they are there.

In short:-
Hugely quick
Great value for money
Mantle/True HD sound support

Negatives are
Poor stock cooler, hot running and not quiet.
Beta drivers have some minor issues

cheers gibbo,

flopper · 28 Oct 2013 at 10:07

bakes0310 said:
Is one 290x better than 670SLI 2gb cards at 2560x1440?

Maybe.
Would depend on games and OC.
I preference one card above sli/crossfire.
I doubt you notice any difference between the cards in practical use tho as its about even.
If you play BF4, Mantle migh be a gamechanger but thats 2 months away.

Ragnahex · 28 Oct 2013 at 10:09

i am still scratching my head why my computer locks up after about half an hour using the new amd drivers.... The card is great.... when i get it to work. Do you think a sledge hammer is a good tool to repair this problem? because i am considering it

ohara59 · 28 Oct 2013 at 10:40

Will the memory be able to be overvolted when MSI Afterburner is updated?

JBod · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:12

Ragnahex said:
i am still scratching my head why my computer locks up after about half an hour using the new amd drivers.... The card is great.... when i get it to work. Do you think a sledge hammer is a good tool to repair this problem? because i am considering it

I've had a couple of locks, I've been assuming it was something else. But I changed so much when I installed the 290X.

Ragnahex · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:14

all i changed was the card and drivers. It runs fine until in game then after about half an hour everything dies and i just get blank screens. Been monitoring all temps and they are fine.. checked ram hard drives updated drivers. Not helped.

darket · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:25

Gibbo said:
Asus - Hynix
Sapphire - Hynix
HIS - Elpida
Gigabyte - Elpida
MSI - Unknow (Stock arrives today)

I was wondering why My sapphire's memory would crap out around 1400 mhz , i now know why , the sapphire cards use Elpida not hynix , i'm a little confused as i based my choices on the cards with Hynix memory ? :confused:

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ICDP · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:26

Ragnahex said:
i am still scratching my head why my computer locks up after about half an hour using the new amd drivers.... The card is great.... when i get it to work. Do you think a sledge hammer is a good tool to repair this problem? because i am considering it

I recently changed from a HD 7950 to a GTX780 and was getting similar issues. The card would lock up and cause a display failure when gaming and when it did work I was getting poor FPS.

In the end it required a full system re-install, even though I had used driver cleaner. I used a spare HD I had lying around to test before clearing my main drive. So if you have a spare HD lying around try a fresh Windows install.

fowler002 · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:27

darket said:
I was wondering why My sapphire's memory would crap out around 1400 mhz , i now know why , the sapphire cards use Elpida not hynix , i'm a little confused as i based my choices on the cards with Hynix memory ?

I thought you said you got 1500 on the memory?

ICDP · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:28

darket said:
I was wondering why My sapphire's memory would crap out around 1400 mhz , i now know why , the sapphire cards use Elpida not hynix , i'm a little confused as i based my choices on the cards with Hynix memory ?

I would not put faith in a few samples, essentially it is a crap shoot as far as VRAM chips are concerned. With the new MSI Afterburner it should be possible to add some VRAM voltage to allow higher clocks.

Ragnahex · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:29

yeah i did a fresh install as the first thing to try to fix it

Silent_Scone · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:30

Gibbo didn't appear to have any issues overclocking the Elpida memory in his review. No two cards are the same though unfortunately.

darket · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:31

fowler002 said:
I thought you said you got 1500 on the memory?

Yeah for benching but not stable for gaming

darket · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:34

ICDP said:
I would not put faith in a few samples, essentially it is a crap shoot as far as VRAM chips are concerned. With the new MSI Afterburner it should be possible to add some VRAM voltage to allow higher clocks.

To be honest i'm sure its not an issue, just seems a little strange that the first batch would be a lottery of what vram chips you get

fowler002 · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:42

darket said:
Yeah for benching but not stable for gaming

Oh right.

What's the name of the programming you have in the screenshot? I can see memory but not the rest of the name, will check mine if/when I get my pc built and running.

darket · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:43

i downloaded the tool from here :-

http://www.overclock.net/t/1437170/290x-voltage-control-vdroop-mods-custom-bios-thread

uksoldierboy · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:46

Edit- already asked.

darket · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:50

Just tested both my Sapphires , Both Elpida memory

Suarez7 · 28 Oct 2013 at 11:53

Anyone still in 2 minds about keeping their 290X should check out the new 780 prices :eek: