Received one of these card today to replace my 780ti, so far im fairly impressed, run a few benchmarks and it was cool and quiet @ 62c during 3dmark, a little hotter running heaven maxed out @1440P and X8 aa went to 69c and not so quiet lol, time to try some BF4 and try this mantle.
-
Competitor rules
Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.
**WARNING: DO NOT BUY POWERCOLOR 290 PCS+ CARDS FOR MINING (NOW RESOLVED THESE CARDS ARE FINE)!!**
- Thread starter Gibbo
- Start date
Caporegime
Why did you replace your 780ti Taz?
Sold it because i want to raise so cash to fund another project, plus i have been think about knocking gaming on the head as getting fed up of it all tbh, find myself gaming less and less, so the plan was to get a 270X, but i got lucky and my new project cost me a lot less than i could have hoped for, so much so i could have kept the card, but the way i feel at the moment im considering selling everything and use another pc that i have just for the odd gaming, i candy dont bother me at all, as much as i love my build its a lot of cash just to read forums and ebay all day lol, plus im the wrong side of 40
could just be a mid life crisis tho, time will tell, btw the R290 is going back, first because its to loud for my liking, and since then i have had one black screen which i had to hold down the power to resolve, plus the reasons aboveThat was a smaller order, biggest so far is one customer who purchased 300pc of MSI 280X gaming and another customer who went with 120pc of Sapphire 290 Tri-X.
We've taken some huge orders, but were having a booming year, AMD sales have tripled and NV sales have doubled, its great news for us.
Has the Guy who bought the sapphire tri-x had any rma'd due to the black screen issues?
Probably not something you'd pickup on with mining unless the card thats running the display suffers from it, though that might kill the mining client sometimes if there are cards suffering from that issue in the mix.
didnt know whether the cards were physically failing or if its just some driver gliching. I dont have a 290 but i was planning on getting one at the end of the month and have just been reading up about the problems some people were having with them.
Not sure which it is tbh but from my limited experience it seems that some cards, a relatively small but not insignificant number, have "weak" VRAM ICs which are the cause of the problem(s). Unfortunatly didn't know of the nature of the problem originally so didn't check what brand were on the cards I had a go at troubleshooting but the replacement cards (that work fine) I've since found out are both using Hynix brand ICs.
Hi,
Would anyone know what is the difference when running the card with the bios switch in either position? I've tried myself on my card and couldn't see any differences and looking at Powercolor's official I couldn't find any mention of the switch.
Would anyone know what is the difference when running the card with the bios switch in either position? I've tried myself on my card and couldn't see any differences and looking at Powercolor's official I couldn't find any mention of the switch.
Caporegime
They are for different MOBO bios's as I understand it (UEFI/Legacy) and it is to do with boot times (UEFI being quicker).
Associate
I just found the thread so i'll just copy this here, maybe someone knows a fix:
Had an MSI 290X Gaming, which i changed for a Powercolor 290X PCS+
I overclocked the Powercolor to 1150/1600, but the results (both Valley, and Firestrike) are just about matching the MSI's stock results.
The MSI at the same speed hit 63 fps in Firestrike first test, the Powercolor does only 56fps.
Any thoughts?
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/1848038/fs/1770794
Had an MSI 290X Gaming, which i changed for a Powercolor 290X PCS+
I overclocked the Powercolor to 1150/1600, but the results (both Valley, and Firestrike) are just about matching the MSI's stock results.
The MSI at the same speed hit 63 fps in Firestrike first test, the Powercolor does only 56fps.
Any thoughts?
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/1848038/fs/1770794
Are the drivers the same?
It might be worth a full uninstall using Display Driver Uninstaller.
Associate
I just did a normal uninstall/reinstall.
A friend told me he had similar problems when changed his 290 to a 290x. He could only fix it with a clean windows install, i'll try the same tomorrow (about time anyway).
On the 290x PCS+ cooling:
The cooler is fantastic! I played ACIV on 1200/1600 clocks and the gpu was 68C, the hotter VRM 78C.
In Valley loop 1100/1500 it was 67C with fixed 40% fan after 3 rounds!!!
A friend told me he had similar problems when changed his 290 to a 290x. He could only fix it with a clean windows install, i'll try the same tomorrow (about time anyway).
On the 290x PCS+ cooling:
The cooler is fantastic! I played ACIV on 1200/1600 clocks and the gpu was 68C, the hotter VRM 78C.
In Valley loop 1100/1500 it was 67C with fixed 40% fan after 3 rounds!!!
I can't believe people manage to run 60 of these things!
Are they heating the neighbourhood at the same time? I'm surprised they haven't had search warrants served on them for suspicion of using their premises for a grow. :0
Is the Powercolour a better buy than the MSI then or has anyone else had lower benchmarks from the Powercolour?
Are they heating the neighbourhood at the same time? I'm surprised they haven't had search warrants served on them for suspicion of using their premises for a grow. :0
Is the Powercolour a better buy than the MSI then or has anyone else had lower benchmarks from the Powercolour?
Soldato
That was a smaller order, biggest so far is one customer who purchased 300pc of MSI 280X gaming and another customer who went with 120pc of Sapphire 290 Tri-X.
We've taken some huge orders, but were having a booming year, AMD sales have tripled and NV sales have doubled, its great news for us.
Jesus, Targets definately hit for that month, wow.
Associate
Ok i tried everything, clean windows, cables, etc. It is just plain and simply 5-10% slower then my MSI Gaming.
Its a shame tho, because it has simply the best cooling ive seen on 290X cards.
Its a shame tho, because it has simply the best cooling ive seen on 290X cards.
Associate
I can't say faulty, as it is working fine, OC fine, i can play ACIV on 1200/1500 no problem. Its just slower clock to clock than my MSI.
I will keep it tho, trade 4-5 fps for 10C cooler, and dead silent card.
Also its not a warranty issue if your card runs a few fps slower than another manufacturers one
Try the alternative BIOS switch, or flash a different BIOS.
Don't worry buddy you're not crazy, of course on seeing the pcs+ reviews and that OCUK had dropped the price to super cheap I also returned my msi 290x G for one of these, and true to form the cooling is amazing.
But alas as you found out as well, there are suspected issues, and on other forums users claiming to be powercolor staff have issued info and advice for owners. If I'm not mistaken I saw a similar post on the OCUK forums about 290's from PC that read very similar.
Anyway here is what the 290x post claimed elsewhere on the web:
"This is Raymond from PowerColor, we were contacted before about performance issue with a small batch of cards. We have a bios update now that fixes the performance issue. To get the bios update, please email me with the EAN code, Serial Number and Model number. Basically all the sticker number on the back of the card. The bios will be released on a per case basis, so please do not release it publicly as it might damage other graphic card. You can email me directly at [email protected].
Best Regards,
Raymond"
Luck of the draw I just happened to get an elpida version, but check what mem you are running in GPU-Z to see if this is related. I sent an email 3 days ago but no luck yet getting a response. I hope its not just a bios with a higher default fan setting, but my card does throttle super early (around 65 degrees).
If it's of any help at all, I also have benchmarks from multiple programs showing this 290x pcs+ being 5-6% slower than the MSI 290x despite the higher clocks.