High temperatures with MSI AMD Radeon R9 290 Gaming

[manez]

So I got myself this MSI r9 290 with the twin frozr cooler and fired up kombustor to check the temps,it's quiet alright, but boy did it have some temps. Within 3 minutes it was up to 87c with the fan at 85%.
Now, I got a well ventilated case with 4 fans and I gotta ask you folks is this really normal? Should I just let it run at those temps or should I replace the thermal paste, or perhaps return it to the store?
What do you wise people think I should do?

 

[Novuake]

The target temp for R2 290s is 95C, you are still perfectly safe.
HOWEVER avoid Kombuster, it has a tendency to do more damage than good.

Run something like 3D mark or Unique Heaven instead.

 

[manez]

Alright, thank you for the advice. I did in fact not know that kombuster should be avoided, just used it since it was handy at the afterburner. I did hear that the hawaii would run hot, however did not expect that hot.

 

[Novuake]

Jip. They are pretty insane on the heat side of things.

 

[manez]

Now, correct me if i'm wrong, but does this not mean that they have very limited overclocking capabilities?

 

[Novuake]

Not necessarily. You are gonna have to try and see.

 

[manez]

Alright, thanks for clearing these things up for me.

 

[cyborgcity]

What you need to do is run demanding games and measure your temp in them. As your not running Kombuster and Furmark on a regular basis. Your temperature in these programs is irrelevant. Just as running prime 95 is for your cpu.

 

[manez]

Unigine heaven seems to give me some stable 82c at 61% fan speed, will try some games next

 

[Novuake]

Unigine heaven seems to give me some stable 82c at 61% fan speed, will try some games next

Much better. Unique simulates real world loads. So thats good.

 

[manez]

And Tomb raider on ultra at 79c, so I should be expecting some 80c on load.

 

[manez]

Just as an update i'd like to say that, with some case fan rearranging and tweaking, I managed to get temperatures down to a pleasant 70c at full load.

 

[PistolPaul]

OP

While I know you think you have fixed this problem please keep an eye on this, especially temperatures!

My experience so far owning an MSI R9 290 Gaming is basically this.

Day 1 on receiving
1) Installed - Benched - Played - then noticed odd performance, then noticed high GPU temp 85C n climbing with fans at 100%
2) Physically looked at fans, noted that one fan was not running ( the one nearest the rear connections)
3) Did a few shutdowns n restarts - noted the fans randomly chose not to start on boot, either one or the other.
4) got late - went to bed , sleepless night thinking about the problem

Day 2
1) booted - both fans started. Did LOTS of shutdowns n restarts, fans started EVERY time.
2) thought it was all sorted - sticky from the factory perhaps ?
3) Played n enjoyed - max temp 74C , with fans at 44%
4) Decided Id keep the side panel off for a while to check the fans always start until I had confidence.

DAY 3
1) Booted in the morning, all was good.
2) Came back to the PC in the afternoon, booted, neither fan started ! FTLOG
3) Tried a couple of boots, still no joy. Spun fans with fingers, running again.
4) Shutdown/Restart, fans both start.
5) WTF is going on ?! - To the Forums ! (Finding a few topics of MSI R9 2xxx Gaming fan problems.)

Found that after boot with a stuck fan you cannot force it to spin up by putting fans to 100%, it just sits there, twitching.

**IMPORTANT** Just because the fans say they are doing something visually confirm they are !

Is this potentially a bios fix ? If so , what to change ?

Paul

 

[gabix87]

Hi, guys I posted a ticket on MSI support about my issue with the MSI R9 290 Gaming 4G OC

I am having problems with my card when I run any 3D applications(mostly games). As soons as it switches to 3D mode the GPU immediately hits 94C and the fan ramps up to 100% and it stays there no matter what. THe GPU core frequency varies. I tried demanding titles like BF3 (Other also) but even and oldie Call of Duty 2 and it behaves the same way. However the the performance of the card seems to be OK. I will run a benchmark later.

What do you think ?

link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfhHa0AKH5Q

screenshots: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a45v0m2od5p8wth/AAChk6urGcXb5751hoszndlsa?dl=0

 

[PistolPaul]

May I just make one suggestion and first be sure that the fans are actually spinning. I know youve got a tacho reading and the power value that the fans are SET to BUT that doesnt always mean both fans are actually turning.

 

[gabix87]

😀 I pretty sure they spin, at 100% they're loud as f**k !!! I have 3 noctua's and 2x200mm OEMs and they are "silent" at their full speed. Man, I am not a beginner.

 

[PistolPaul]

😀 I pretty sure they spin, at 100% they're loud as f**k !!! I have 3 noctua's and 2x200mm OEMs and they are "silent" at their full speed. Man, I am not a beginner.

Yes the fans are very loud.

If you check out this guys problem ...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jKG4QA0L5ts

You can hear the one fan wail like a banshee when he ramps up the speed to 100% and the tacho and speed indicator ramp up but only one fan is spinning and making any noise. It might be difficult to ascertain if one or both are running in those circumstances so put a mark 1 eyeball in there and check what is really happening.

I wish you the best with the problem you are having.

 

[gabix87]

May I just make one suggestion and first be sure that the fans are actually spinning. I know youve got a tacho reading and the power value that the fans are SET to BUT that doesnt always mean both fans are actually turning.

😀 I pretty sure they spin, at 100% they're loud as f**k !!! I have 3 noctua's and 2x200mm OEMs and they are "silent" at their full speed. Man, I am not a beginner.

Yes the fans are very loud.

If you check out this guys problem ...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jKG4QA0L5ts

You can hear the one fan wail like a banshee when he ramps up the speed to 100% and the tacho and speed indicator ramp up but only one fan is spinning and making any noise. It might be difficult to ascertain if one or both are running in those circumstances so put a mark 1 eyeball in there and check what is really happening.

I wish you the best with the problem you are having.

Yes , they both spin. I checked with both of my eyes

just to update: watching a 1080p video = GPU usage 3% temp 81C , FAN 61% , clock 483Mhz

 

[PistolPaul]

Is this a new card BTW ?

 

[gabix87]

I got answer from MSI.

Content:
Dear sir/madam
Thanks for contacting MSI technical support team.
Regarding your concern,it's unnormal for your card, usually the temperature should be less than 80 degrees stably. Maybe you can contact with your reseller to RMA it for checking in detail and repair.Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you.
Thanks for your cooperation in advance!

Best Regards,
MSI Technical Support Team


No the card is a year old and I bought it second hand. Still under warranty.

 

[PistolPaul]

OK, well, unless there you can find anything else to do to resolve the problem then at least you have the warranty 😀

Personally, Id just like to say that the niggles that Ive had with this MSI build of the R9 290 has put me off using them ever again in the future. Ive had various cards from various manufacturers, whether it be nvidia or AMD based and never once had physical issues with a card until now. To give you an idea, Ive been building rigs since the age of the Matrox Mystique, and the first Voodoo cards.

I usually cycle out graphics cards every 2 years or so and never have I looked forward to justifying the replacement of a card more than this one. Having to manually spin up the fans just to feel confident they will start on boot every time is a pain in the arse. There is something very wrong with the component choices they put into the Twin Frozr units and I wont be coming back to them on my next GPU upgrade.

 

[gabix87]

OK, well, unless there you can find anything else to do to resolve the problem then at least you have the warranty 😀

Personally, Id just like to say that the niggles that Ive had with this MSI build of the R9 290 has put me off using them ever again in the future. Ive had various cards from various manufacturers, whether it be nvidia or AMD based and never once had physical issues with a card until now. To give you an idea, Ive been building rigs since the age of the Matrox Mystique, and the first Voodoo cards.

I usually cycle out graphics cards every 2 years or so and never have I looked forward to justifying the replacement of a card more than this one. Having to manually spin up the fans just to feel confident they will start on boot every time is a pain in the arse. There is something very wrong with the component choices they put into the Twin Frozr units and I wont be coming back to them on my next GPU upgrade.

Thank you for your input.