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The AMD R9 290 (non x) Thread

got my 290 sapphire.
seems to work fine as far.

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mmj_uk said:
Maybe you hit a power limit? 290(non X) probably use more power than 290X as they'll be (presumably) lower quality parts. It's like Piledriver 8320 v 8350, an 8320 will run at 8350 clocks easily but will in most cases use more power and demand more of the motherboard in doing so.
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Yeh maybe power limit, whilst talking about the power limit, what do people set the power limit to to get the best overclock? I have it set to plus 50% (the max it allows), is this a good idea?
 
Thinking of getting 2 290's and crossfiring them, but have a question that my Google skills has not revealed an answer on.

To get my four screens running on my 7970's (before they died) I could only use 2 "legacy" connectors - DVI/HDMI/VGA - and had to have screens 3 & 4 running on the Displayport outputs. This 2 legacy connector limitation has been there since the 5xxx series introduced Eyefinity. The 290 has 2xDVI, 1xHDMI, 1xDP - can I use all at once with an Active adapter on the DP output, or can I only run 2 of the three DVI/HDMI ports at once and I'll need a hub to run 2 others off the single Displayport?

Can a 290 support 4 screens on it's own, or is an MST hub required to go above 3?
 
Confused Stu said:
Thinking of getting 2 290's and crossfiring them, but have a question that my Google skills has not revealed an answer on.

To get my four screens running on my 7970's (before they died) I could only use 2 "legacy" connectors - DVI/HDMI/VGA - and had to have screens 3 & 4 running on the Displayport outputs. This 2 legacy connector limitation has been there since the 5xxx series introduced Eyefinity. The 290 has 2xDVI, 1xHDMI, 1xDP - can I use all at once with an Active adapter on the DP output, or can I only run 2 of the three DVI/HDMI ports at once and I'll need a hub to run 2 others off the single Displayport?

Can a 290 support 4 screens on it's own, or is an MST hub required to go above 3?
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You can use all 3 (dvi/dvi/hdmi) at the same time for 3 screens if you want to go to 4 screens you can still use all 3 but will need to use the displayport to connect the fourth if you want 6 screens you will need an mst hub.
http://www.amd.com/uk/products/desktop/graphics/r9/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-r9-series.aspx#5
 
do you guys think placing a high CFM fan just above the amd stock blower will make a difference to temps and lower noise?

Also does anyone know the dimensions of the blower fan?
 
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Does anyone know when custom cooler designs will arrive for the 290? No way am i doing crossfire without quieter 290's.

And why have you all bought this noisy card when you could just wait a little longer for quieter custom cooler cards? Even if they cost a little more they're still going to be a good deal for that performance.
 
MR.B said:
Does anyone know when custom cooler designs will arrive for the 290? No way am i doing crossfire without quieter 290's.

And why have you all bought this noisy card when you could just wait a little longer for quieter custom cooler cards? Even if they cost a little more they're still going to be a good deal for that performance.
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I ordered two 290's today. I've gone for the stock cooler as:
  • the stock cooler ejects heat straight out of the case rather than recirculates it back into the case.
  • stock coolers tend to work better for crossfire (in my personal experience) due to each having a separate airflow rather than the second card restricting airflow to some of the fans on a custom cooler
  • the rotated motherboard on my RV03 suits stock coolers more than custom coolers
  • £309 on this week only offer seemed a very good deal to me. Gibbo has already hinted the cards will go up in price once they come with games, and we don't know how long custom coolers will take to drop to £309
  • if the noise does get to me, I have an Accelero Hybrid spare already that I could use for card 1, and I can buy an Accelero Extreme for card 2 that may cost less than the difference between a stock and custom cooler.
  • I can get new, shiny, fast things this week rather than having to wait (I'm impatient!) :)

Can't wait to get my cards, have a play, and see how noisy they actually are for myself.
 
Can you remove the coolers on the Sapphire's and keep warranty?

I have pre-ordered an MSI 290x @ £388 (not OCUK), but stock isn't due until next Tuesday, should i cancel and order a 290 and save £80?
 
MartynB85 said:
Can you remove the coolers on the Sapphire's and keep warranty?

I have pre-ordered an MSI 290x @ £388 (not OCUK), but stock isn't due until next Tuesday, should i cancel and order a 290 and save £80?
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I am 99% certain Sapphire and MSI are both fine with you changing the stock coolers.
 
Confused Stu said:
I ordered two 290's today. I've gone for the stock cooler as:
  • the stock cooler ejects heat straight out of the case rather than recirculates it back into the case.
  • stock coolers tend to work better for crossfire (in my personal experience) due to each having a separate airflow rather than the second card restricting airflow to some of the fans on a custom cooler
  • the rotated motherboard on my RV03 suits stock coolers more than custom coolers
  • £309 on this week only offer seemed a very good deal to me. Gibbo has already hinted the cards will go up in price once they come with games, and we don't know how long custom coolers will take to drop to £309
  • if the noise does get to me, I have an Accelero Hybrid spare already that I could use for card 1, and I can buy an Accelero Extreme for card 2 that may cost less than the difference between a stock and custom cooler.
  • I can get new, shiny, fast things this week rather than having to wait (I'm impatient!) :)

Can't wait to get my cards, have a play, and see how noisy they actually are for myself.
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Will be really interested in your experience with eyefinity and crossfire with 290.

I currently have a 6990 and eyefinity. I'm hovering between a 7990 if I can find one for near £399 again or just to go for 2 x 290 pro which is tempting given the frame pacing fixes are supposedly built into the hardware rather than having to wait for driver fix on 7xxx series. Plus 4gb ram instead of 3gb will help at high res.

What have you upgraded from ?

Cheers
 
sportbilly said:
Will be really interested in your experience with eyefinity and crossfire with 290.

I currently have a 6990 and eyefinity. I'm hovering between a 7990 if I can find one for near £399 again or just to go for 2 x 290 pro which is tempting given the frame pacing fixes are supposedly built into the hardware rather than having to wait for driver fix on 7xxx series. Plus 4gb ram instead of 3gb will help at high res.

What have you upgraded from ?

Cheers
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I was happily running two 7970's (a launch week VTX3D that was changed to an Accelero Xtreme last year, and a two month old MSI Twin Frozr). Decided to change the Frozr for an Accelero Hybrid as OcUK had a good price on them. Worked perfectly for 2 days, then had no output to screens. Lots of testing/swapping parts with different PCs showed BOTH my GPUs did not produce any output to screens - no BIOS, nothing. Replaced both coolers with original ones, still no output. Returned both cards to the different retailers, VTX3D was fully refunded straight away as faulty (£450!), other card's been returned to MSI for replacement or confirmation I broke it while installing the cooler.

I was in the same position - do I get another 7970 CF and hope the rumoured frame pacing & eyefinity fix comes through, or go for 290's and have it up and running properly now (but spend more). Went for the second option.

I am a little concerned that my PSU won't be able to cope. It's a 750W one, but my 7970's drew 600W from the wall at 1050/1500 each. Going to ditch my CPU overclock and run both cards at stock to see how I do power wise, then if I have headroom reinstate the CPU overclock. If I need to buy an 850W/1000W PSU, then I will, but if I don't have to then it's a bit of money saved. :)

I'll keep the thread updated, but the wife has guests round tomorrow night, so probably won't get to install new shinyness until Saturday, provided it gets delivered tomorrow.
 
•AMD Radeon R9 290 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 550~600 Watt power supply unit.
•AMD Radeon R9 290 Crossfire - On your average system the cards require you to have a 800 Watt power supply unit as minimum.

If you are going to overclock GPU or processor, then we do recommend you purchase something with some more stamina. There are many good PSUs out there, please do have a look at our many PSU reviews as we have loads of recommended PSUs for you to check out in there. What would happen if your PSU can't cope with the load:
•bad 3D performance
•crashing games
•spontaneous reset or imminent shutdown of the PC
•freezing during gameplay
•PSU overload can cause it to break down
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http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,4.html

But dont forget lots psu go higher then rated just look up your psu
 
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