VTX3D Radeon R9 290 Reference X-Edition

snips86x · 27 May 2014 at 08:30

Does anyone have one of these?

I've found one on the MM for £210 delivered and it's very much appealing to me. Has anyone got one of these reference cards setup in a micro ATX case?

I'm looking for details on noise & temps for those who are using it now.

This does reassure me some what:

We have designed the 290 Series to operate at a steady state of 95C. By running at 95C, we are both maximizing the performance and minimizing the acoustics of the product. Be assured, that 95C is a perfectly safe temperature at which the GPU can operate for its entire life. There is no technical reason to reduce the target temperature below 95C.

Thanks,

Martin

oweneades · 27 May 2014 at 09:21

you would be better off posting in the 290 (non X) thread as there are a few of us who have reference cards (I have a reference 290X (unlocked 290)).

The general consensus is the cooler is ok, does the job, but is nothing special. <50% fan speed is acceptable for normal use and <60% is tolerable for gaming if you have headphones or decent speakers. >60% is too loud short of using noise cancelling headphones.

Temperatures are high, but as long you don't throttle then there isn't really a problem.

Overall custom cooled cards are better (arguable for CF) but the used pricing on reference cards at the moment makes them a steal.

snips86x · 27 May 2014 at 09:24

Cheers Owen, I'll add my thread to theirs in the hope I get more details.

Are you actually getting 94deg?

ArchAnGeL · 27 May 2014 at 09:30

I have one and had it initially in a cm690ii with watercooled CPU so not a small case with reasonable airflow and temps

1st one I had had issues and throttled badly under full load
2nd one held 94 deg but was too noisy for me and I have since put in on a full cover EK block. I can't imagine much oc headroom on the stock cooler

I would expect it to be very noisy in a small case under load from my experience but have not tried it first hand

snips86x · 27 May 2014 at 09:31

From what I can find on Google, the comments are mixed.

thefogo · 27 May 2014 at 09:34

I use headphones and don't hear them when gaming. They run at 90-94C. The max fan speed I've seen up to now is 51% on my top card and that's with a small oc.

I've never seen mine throttle even once.

oweneades · 27 May 2014 at 09:42

snips86x said:
Cheers Owen, I'll add my thread to theirs in the hope I get more details.

Are you actually getting 94deg?

I run a custom fan profile which keeps the card in the mid to high 80's. I game with noice cancelling headphones so the fan speed (which does go over 60% at times) isn't an issue.

If I set the temperature target to 94 degrees it will keep the fan speed lower and prevent throttling. I just prefer the lower temperatures as I am running it in a Corsair 250D.

I am undervolted at stock though by -37mv. This seems to help quite a bit in 100% GPU load scenarios.

Marine-RX179 · 27 May 2014 at 10:15

Have a read on my results on this thread of mine. It should give you some idea:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18559772&highlight=startername_Marine-RX179

Do bare in mind that fanspeed aside, a blower cooler card's cooling performance is largely depended on the amount of cool air it get fed as well. A card without proper air-intake could require up to 10-15% higher fanspeed to match the cooling performance of one that does.

snips86x · 27 May 2014 at 10:19

I had started reading your thread but had to get back to work. I've got 2x120mm fans which shift 95cfm over my current graphics card when running max rpm. Being the Parvum, the air pretty much goes in the front and out the back.

Marine-RX179 · 27 May 2014 at 10:25

snips86x said:
I had started reading your thread but had to get back to work. I've got 2x120mm fans which shift 95cfm over my current graphics card when running max rpm. Being the Parvum, the air pretty much goes in the front and out the back.

Ah yes I remember you from the other topic once you mentioned the Parvum and check your sig.

I myself have start doing a change for my CoolerMaster 690II Advanced pretty much changing the fans and upgrading to my old SilverArrow CPU cooler that's was lying around. I'll be upgrading my 290x's cooling from the Gelid Icy Vision 2 cooler to the Corsair H105 with NZXT Kraken G10

snips86x · 27 May 2014 at 10:36

When you planning on doing that? I've looked at that solution, but its hardly tidy. Also, having a second CLC puts me off a little. I would rathe WC the whole lot, but it doesn't come cheap.

Marine-RX179 · 27 May 2014 at 10:49

snips86x said:
When you planning on doing that? I've looked at that solution, but its hardly tidy. Also, having a second CLC puts me off a little. I would rathe WC the whole lot, but it doesn't come cheap.

Think for simplicity sake, when you really go crossfire in the future, just a good airflow from the front intakes and don't overclock the cards (and you can probably undervolt them as well), you would probably only have the reference cards running at 75C-80C range with the right fanspeed profile.

snips86x · 27 May 2014 at 11:00

I see a benefit to it, but I think i will have air flow issues with only 4x120mm fans positions. 2 of those are currently utilised by my H100i

Marine-RX179 · 27 May 2014 at 11:14

snips86x said:
I see a benefit to it, but I think i will have air flow issues with only 4x120mm fans positions. 2 of those are currently utilised by my H100i

For reference blower card (s), you should focus on one thing and one thing only- to deliver as much cool air to the vga cooler's intake as possible. Heat would be exhaust out the rear of the card.

You could consider either getting a Silverstone Air Penetrater 120mm fan.

Or get a Antec Spotcool fan and have the fan blow toward the intake(s) of the vga cooler(s) of the reference blower card(s).
http://store.antec.com/Product/cooling-cooling_fan/spot-cool/0-761345-75018-9.aspx

snips86x · 27 May 2014 at 11:18

I've got 2 Zalward G3s as intakes, not looking to replace the fans, but interested to see and hear how you get on with a CLC.

Marine-RX179 · 27 May 2014 at 11:25

snips86x said:
I've got 2 Zalward G3s as intakes, not looking to replace the fans, but interested to see and hear how you get on with a CLC.

You should still get a AntecSpot cool fan to place next to the vga cooler intake to "focus" the cool air being delivered to it. I mean look at the video above, and see how most standard fans would widely spread out the air rather than channeling them in a straight-line.

snips86x · 27 May 2014 at 12:00

Marine-RX179 said:
You should still get a AntecSpot cool fan to place next to the vga cooler intake to "focus" the cool air being delivered to it. I mean look at the video above, and see how most standard fans would widely spread out the air rather than channeling them in a straight-line.

That video is a great way of knowing the spread you want in your case. I must say though, I originally had the Silverstone Penetrators and my god, they made the most horrific noise. I swapped them out for the Zaward G3s'.

That Antec looks mint, I may have to think about getting one if I do indeed go for a reference 290!

snips86x · 30 May 2014 at 19:59

Still considering a reference version, how does limiting the fan speed affect performance? Can you set temp limiters and is it worth it? Do you loose much performance?

I've found a video you YT and in all honesty, I didn realise they were that loud. My old reference 8800 wasn't anywhere near that bad!

kingy666 · 30 May 2014 at 20:13

I have an Asus reference 290 in a m-itx case (the tiny Corsair 250D) and yes it gets quite loud during gaming but I plan to get an all in one water cooling solution or something like a RAIJINTEK MORPHEUS GPU cooler. I think the second option would mean leaving the left side of the case off as I imagine it is really big. I got my 290 from the MM for £190 after initially looking for a 280X. For less than a new 280X I got a lot more performance.
I have actually taken the stock cooler off my 290 and re-applied the thermal paste as the factory applied stuff was rubbish and has brought my temps down into the 80's rather than 90's and the fan does not seem to go far over 50%.

snips86x · 30 May 2014 at 20:15

kingy666 said:
I have an Asus reference 290 in a m-itx case (the tiny Corsair 250D) and yes it gets quite loud during gaming but I plan to get an all in one water cooling solution or something like a RAIJINTEK MORPHEUS GPU cooler. I think the second option would mean leaving the left side of the case off as I imagine it is really big. I got my 290 from the MM for £190 after initially looking for a 280X. For less than a new 280X I got a lot more performance.
I have actually taken the stock cooler off my 290 and re-applied the thermal paste as the factory applied stuff was rubbish and has brought my temps down into the 80's rather than 90's and the fan does not seem to go far over 50%.

I have some spare thermal compound so happy to give it a try.

Regarding your fan speeds, have you set that manually, or is that default?