** SAPPHIRE R290 PRO REVIEW & 1000+ IN STOCK!! **

[Ian Evey]

I was going to go the route of a 290 and a MK26, but i have read some people have artifacts when fitting the MK26 cooler and the cards overclock worse than they do with the stock cooler.

This 'could' be caused by lack of VRM cooling.

Shame for me.

 

[LtMatt]

Very good point, hadn't considered that one (was looking at MK26 and Accelero hybirds). So for £15 less than the GTX780 it beats it in pretty much every area, rokc on




*£65 (The £320 Sapphire was a one day only launch special).

The 290 can be had from £310 at ocuk vs the £384 for the 780 so £74 difference between them at the moment.

 

[teppic]

The 290 can be had from £310 at ocuk vs the £384 for the 780 so £74 difference between them at the moment.

It's actually £74.01

 

[LtMatt]

It's actually £74.01

 

[maxilive]

The 780 does currently come with better games with higher sale value!

With that being said my 290 is due to turn up in the next hour according to DPD ^.^

 

[sin]

Arrived and installed, will play some games after werk later, receipt confirms the silver+bronze rewards tickets but where do I get the 12 digit unique coupon codes from?
Nice Haribo's

Look in your account mine was in there

 

[ubersonic]

The 290 can be had from £310 at ocuk vs the £384 for the 780 so £74 difference between them at the moment.

Meh, was correct at time of posting

But year £309 for a R290 is a stonking deal, if I was in the market I would be tempted to just jump on that and wait for full cover blocks.

 

[Arcane]

Another thing to remember if you are thinking of getting the aftermarket coolers is you'll ideally need to buy some better quality vrm heatsinks than the utter joke ones that are generally supplied.

The Promiltech MK13 had the worst cheap aluminium heatsinks i've ever seen, combined with sticky tape that was so weak they fell off before I even got it into the case...seriously.

Enzotech do some really nice ones in a variety of sizes that are pure forged copper and stick brilliantly. It added considerably to the overall cost though.

 

[Addicted]

The 780 does currently come with better games with higher sale value!

With that being said my 290 is due to turn up in the next hour according to DPD ^.^

Snaaaaaaaap, waterblock is coming too, oh boy

 

[vUNREALv]

Hi

Would a XFX PRO850W Core Edition Power Supply be able to run 2 290s and this
i7 3770k 4.2
thermaltake water 2.0
2 hard drives
16gb ram
4 120mm fans
2 80mm fans?
On review sites It says It can go over 900w

I think you will be fine mate I've run 480 sli off my psu which is an xfx 750 and they were heavily overclocked, ive also run crossfire 7950's which were pulling the same as oc'ed 7970's.

The xfx psu's are excellent xfx might not be but they dont make the powersupplies seasonic do.

 

[Marine-RX179]

The 780 does currently come with better games with higher sale value!

The value of the 3 games has already plummeted down to a total of sun £35-£40, so with the GTX780 at £390, even after the hassles of selling off the games, it still cost £350-£355.

If Nvidia would drop the price down to £350 plus the free games, then I might be tempted (but by then the total value of the games would probably be down to only £20-£25).

 

[svensonbanks]

Hey lads,

could need some advice here on my Saphire 290.

I was playing around with my case just earlier on and noticed that the card was really, really hot. I checked the temperature, which was at 90 degrees (idle)! I rebooted the pc, turned down the OC of the cpu and the temp is now at 85 degrees and increasing.

This surely cannot be normal?

PC spec: i52500, MSI z68a, 8GB ram, HDD, 650 antec trupower

Hoping for some advice!

 

[Gibbo]

Hey lads,

could need some advice here on my Saphire 290.

I was playing around with my case just earlier on and noticed that the card was really, really hot. I checked the temperature, which was at 90 degrees (idle)! I rebooted the pc, turned down the OC of the cpu and the temp is now at 85 degrees and increasing.

This surely cannot be normal?

PC spec: i52500, MSI z68a, 8GB ram, HDD, 650 antec trupower

Hoping for some advice!

First of all stop using GPU-z it has a bug or did. Use MSI afterburner to monitor temperatures.

Your fan looks like it's hardly spinning, sitting at 20%.

Try this, catalyst control centre, overdrive, set power target to 110, GPU target temperature to 90c and maximum fan speed 70% and then see how hot things get.

Or flick the little black switch on the card with PC off.

 

[Davedree]

Hey lads,

could need some advice here on my Saphire 290.

I was playing around with my case just earlier on and noticed that the card was really, really hot. I checked the temperature, which was at 90 degrees (idle)! I rebooted the pc, turned down the OC of the cpu and the temp is now at 85 degrees and increasing.

This surely cannot be normal?

PC spec: i52500, MSI z68a, 8GB ram, HDD, 650 antec trupower

Hoping for some advice!

Looks like the card isn't throttling down to idle clocks and idle voltage, have you used any software to over clock ?

 

[svensonbanks]

First of all stop using GPU-z it has a bug or did. Use MSI afterburner to monitor temperatures.

Your fan looks like it's hardly spinning, sitting at 20%.

Try this, catalyst control centre, overdrive, set power target to 110, GPU target temperature to 90c and maximum fan speed 70% and then see how hot things get.

Or flick the little black switch on the card with PC off.

Okay Gibbo, thanks. I will try that out and let you know if it has helped.

 

[Martini1991]

When do we think MSI Afterburner will support voltage?

 

[Gibbo]

When do we think MSI Afterburner will support voltage?

No idea, but Asus tweaked ain't bad once you get used to it.

 

[svensonbanks]

Hey Gibbo,

I did as you said, apart from,

set power target to 110

Where do I do this exactly in overdrive?

However, after the tweeks, the GPU now idles at ca. 86c.

Looks like the card isn't throttling down to idle clocks and idle voltage, have you used any software to over clock ?

No, I have not used any OC software. My msi z68a gd65 g3 has an OC GENIE button on the board, which I use to OC my i5. However I turned that off and the GPU temperature remains the same.

 

[Gibbo]

Hey Gibbo,

I did as you said, apart from,


Where do I do this exactly in overdrive?

however the GPU now idles at ca. 86c.

No, I have not used any OC software. My msi z68a gd65 g3 has an OC GENIE button on the board, which I use to OC my i5. However I turned that off and the GPU temperature remains the same.

Set your fan to 40% and report back temp, then 55% and report back.

They shouuld idle at 35-55c depending on ambient and be 60-90c under load again ambient dependable.

Set your GPU temp target too 85c and fan max speed to 70% please as right now your card does not have this set.

 

[555BUK]

Check whether the fan is actually spinning at all (look at it). It could be a BIOS/driver bug which doesn't allow the card to report fan speeds below 20-27rpm. It may be reporting 20/27rpm because the fan is busted.