What will the non ref 290/x bring to the table?

[benjii]

As the title states, what normally changes? Is it just the cooler or do they tweak other things as well?

I'm somewhat disheartened by the January rumours floating around and am wondering whether or not I should just get a ref and slap an aftermarket cooler on it.

 

[Make]

They can bring out custom PCP's, which means beefier VRM's and more stable high overclocks with higher voltages. They also last longer.

The cooler itself is another thing that allows high overclocks; the card will not reach it's throttling limit and will go much higher when it stays cool.

So, manufacturers can bring out cards that are already overclocked which will last for their designed lifetime, while enthusiasts can further overclock those cards to their needs.

 

[teppic]

With the custom designs you should be guaranteed that all the parts (RAM and VRMs too) are properly cooled in addition to potentially improved parts. You also get the higher binned OC model options that you don't see on reference designs.

 

[555BUK]

They will almost certainly be locked.

 

[benjii]

I was aware of some of this, I think I'm more trying to convince myself it's not worth waiting.

 

[BS Dave]

as 555BUK said - you may also see cheaper memory used, incompatibility with voltage control using various programmes, and it's no given that VRM cooling will be better.

TBH a reference board with a decent cooler would be a great combination.

 

[555BUK]

AMD tends to bring out the better GPU's first. Perhaps this is deliberate (holding back the poor ones until reviews and early opinions have settled) or maybe the fab process deteriorates with age. All I know is that I have always had better clockers when purchased near launch than near end of production. This applied for 7xxx series when most reference launch cards could hit ~1200MHz, but few newer cards appear to do so now. The 6xxx series also seemed to clock better on launch/reference cards.

My opinion is that non-reference cards are made to save money or to up-sell a product, rather than increase real performance. A better cooler may well increase performance (especially on a card that throttles when hot), but PCB component changes make little difference. For a while I had the world's fastest air-cooled 7850. It was a reference VTX card which benched 1400MHz and was stable at 1350MHz once I fitted an Accelero to keep things cool. The GPU is key, and that is a lottery which no pcb changes can circumnavigate. Go for the cheapest one you can find with the bundled accessories/games you like. If you really want a quiet card wait for non-coolers, but if you really want to overclock it may be best to buy now and fit your own cooler later.

 

[benjii]

AMD tends to bring out the better GPU's first. Perhaps this is deliberate (holding back the poor ones until reviews and early opinions have settled) or maybe the fab process deteriorates with age. All I know is that I have always had better clockers when purchased near launch than near end of production. This applied for 7xxx series when most reference launch cards could hit ~1200MHz, but few newer cards appear to do so now. The 6xxx series also seemed to clock better on launch/reference cards.

My opinion is that non-reference cards are made to save money or to up-sell a product, rather than increase real performance. A better cooler may well increase performance (especially on a card that throttles when hot), but PCB component changes make little difference. For a while I had the world's fastest air-cooled 7850. It was a reference VTX card which benched 1400MHz and was stable at 1350MHz once I fitted an Accelero to keep things cool. The GPU is key, and that is a lottery which no pcb changes can circumnavigate. Go for the cheapest one you can find with the bundled accessories/games you like. If you really want a quiet card wait for non-coolers, but if you really want to overclock it may be best to buy now and fit your own cooler later.

You raise some good points. Normally I'd be patient, but this delay is stopping me from building my PC for the missus so it's all rather annoying. It seems more and more tempting to just buy one and put the prolimatech mk-26 on it with a couple of 140mm. Would I need pwm fans if I wanted to control it via the desktop?