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The AMD R9 290 (non x) Thread

Soldato
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What would people suggest is a safe voltage for the 290? AB atm has a +100 limit, would this be okay?
+100mV (1.35mV) should be fine fine, but the stock cooler won't be able to keep temp at below 85C unless you were using 70%+ fanspeed, which would be too loud for almost everyone (unless they use headset).
 
Associate
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+100mV (1.35mV) should be fine fine, but the stock cooler won't be able to keep temp at below 85C unless you were using 70%+ fanspeed, which would be too loud for almost everyone (unless they use headset).

At the risk of sounding stupid, is there a huge problem with letting the temps go above 85C? Didn't they say the cards were designed to run at 95C for their lifespan?
 
Soldato
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At the risk of sounding stupid, is there a huge problem with letting the temps go above 85C? Didn't they say the cards were designed to run at 95C for their lifespan?
The "GPU itself" might have no problem withstanding long term 95C no problem, but I wouldn't risk it as there are other nearby components that are more delicate and not as durable toward the heat long-term. 90C has to be the very highest I'd would chance it personally.
 
Soldato
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The "GPU itself" might have no problem withstanding long term 95C no problem, but I wouldn't risk it as there are other nearby components that are more delicate and not as durable toward the heat long-term. 90C has to be the very highest I'd would chance it personally.

How is the Heat getting to these other components? And how can you decide what is a safe temp for these other components? How did you arrive at 90C been safe?

Oh and please point out these other components that are more delicate?.
 
Soldato
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The "GPU itself" might have no problem withstanding long term 95C no problem, but I wouldn't risk it as there are other nearby components that are more delicate and not as durable toward the heat long-term. 90C has to be the very highest I'd would chance it personally.

depends what case and airflow one has, the cards pcb get hot for sure.
which depends on OC or default also.
No issue with default settings for me but with OC things heat up.
my watercooling unit cant cope with it full oc.
and I am thinking to upgrade a few things like pump and maybe rad even if I have a triple rad its not enough.

PSU fan is kicking up and my PC is making funny noises then rebooting in Sleeping Dogs @ 1200/1500. Bigger PSU time? :D

I thought for sure this PSU would handle the load, shame...

http://www.seasonicusa.com/NEW_X-series_KM3_650-750-850.htm

yea psu gets a beating with OC unless you have 750w quality one.;)
 
Associate
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The "GPU itself" might have no problem withstanding long term 95C no problem, but I wouldn't risk it as there are other nearby components that are more delicate and not as durable toward the heat long-term. 90C has to be the very highest I'd would chance it personally.


I agree with you 100% and in a way can verify your statement

My 290 has already eaten 1 PSU after a game of COD:Ghosts

I bought a lower wattage PSU with a better cooling fan and have played COD:G all the way through no issues. I had a small overclock on my 290 but nothing heavy and with the same settings the newer cooler PSU is fine which says the heat from the GPU probably helped kill the PSU right underneath it, which was an Antec 850w so had enough juice for it
 
Soldato
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Is there a way to set a thermal limit on the 290 cards?
So when it reaches that limit it stops increasing the core speed? (Or is that how Nvidias boost thing works not these AMD cards?)

NVidia's boost allows the cards to increase speed when they can, where AMD's cards try to run at full speed all the time, and only drop clock speed when they have to.

You can set a thermal limit in CCC (95C at stock), and the card will run at maximum speed (947MHz at stock) until it hits that limit. Once it's hit that limit, the fan speed then increases up to the limit you've set (47% at stock). Only once the card has hit that temperature and fan speed limits does the card then start downclocking itself to keep to your desired temperature at your maximum fan speed. If it cannot maintain this, the card can run it's fan higher than you've set, but only when it's already downclocked as far as it can go.

In my case, my cards run happily at 947MHz each until they hit 94C, then the fan ramps up to 47%, when the cards then start moving between 700MHz-947MHz to maintain 94C at 47%. I simply changed the maximum fan speed allowable to 100% in CCC, and the cards now sit happily at 947MHz, 94C all day long, with the fan around 45%-55% depending on how much stress they're under. :)
 
Soldato
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NVidia's boost allows the cards to increase speed when they can, where AMD's cards try to run at full speed all the time, and only drop clock speed when they have to.

You can set a thermal limit in CCC (95C at stock), and the card will run at maximum speed (947MHz at stock) until it hits that limit. Once it's hit that limit, the fan speed then increases up to the limit you've set (47% at stock). Only once the card has hit that temperature and fan speed limits does the card then start downclocking itself to keep to your desired temperature at your maximum fan speed. If it cannot maintain this, the card can run it's fan higher than you've set, but only when it's already downclocked as far as it can go.

In my case, my cards run happily at 947MHz each until they hit 94C, then the fan ramps up to 47%, when the cards then start moving between 700MHz-947MHz to maintain 94C at 47%. I simply changed the maximum fan speed allowable to 100% in CCC, and the cards now sit happily at 947MHz, 94C all day long, with the fan around 45%-55% depending on how much stress they're under. :)

You can see the "Overdrive" option in CCC with 290s in Crossfire using the v9.4 beta driver? You must be the only one who can :(
 
Soldato
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You can see the "Overdrive" option in CCC with 290s in Crossfire using the v9.4 beta driver? You must be the only one who can :(

Yup - did my usual update procedure from 9.2 (run 9.2 installer, select uninstall, select all, reboot, run 9.4 installer) and the Overdrive tab showed up and seems to be working perfectly. Running Windows 7 64bit, in case that makes a difference.
 
Soldato
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Yup - did my usual update procedure from 9.2 (run 9.2 installer, select uninstall, select all, reboot, run 9.4 installer) and the Overdrive tab showed up and seems to be working perfectly. Running Windows 7 64bit, in case that makes a difference.

Also running Win7 64 and did this exact procedure, no performance tab/overdrive.
 
Soldato
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Yup - did my usual update procedure from 9.2 (run 9.2 installer, select uninstall, select all, reboot, run 9.4 installer) and the Overdrive tab showed up and seems to be working perfectly. Running Windows 7 64bit, in case that makes a difference.

If I could get it to work, then I wouldn't need MSI Afterburner.

I must say (again) that these cards in Crossfire perform so damn well in BF4. Too bad the game still has issues though :(
 
Associate
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my 290 has a similar score to my previous 670 ftw in heaven benchmarks and seems to stutter / freeze a lot, is their something wrong with it? or is it just ****** beta drivers

Edit: did the same thing in valley benchmark
 
Soldato
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Has anyone tried undervolting their crossfired 290s? I get more FPS than I need in BF4, so the thought of saving a bit of money on the electric bill is appealing.

I'm just curious if anyone has tried it :)
 
Soldato
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Has anyone tried undervolting their crossfired 290s? I get more FPS than I need in BF4, so the thought of saving a bit of money on the electric bill is appealing.

I'm just curious if anyone has tried it :)
I recall Gibbo mentioning that the 290s can undervolt but to no lower than 1225mV (stock is 1250mV).
 
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