Partner Cards: One Radeon R9 290 And Three 290Xes, Reviewed

[Gurg]

@treehugger

The Kracken numbers were in the charts: 37dbs, 66ºc vrm and 49ºc GPU

 

[markaflias]

Nice job Igor , the review we have been w8ing for

 

[chumly]

Really wish they would start selling reference boards without coolers on the already. Tired of paying for it.

 

[chumly]

Really wish they would start selling reference boards without coolers on the already. Tired of paying for it.

 

[IndustryStandard]

Yay! I've been waiting for a (any) partner R9 review for months. I'm going to loosen my tie and grab another cup of water before I waste office time to read this.

 

[Tree_Hugger]

@treehugger

The Kracken numbers were in the charts: 37dbs, 66ºc vrm and 49ºc GPU

Oops! Don't know how i missed them, sorry. Thanks

 

[Gurg]

@treehugger

The Kracken numbers were in the charts: 37dbs, 66ºc vrm and 49ºc GPU

Oops! Don't know how i missed them, sorry. Thanks

Probably so much lower than the others that they were hidden by the trees. The next logical question is: how much additional performance can be generated if the reference 290x was overclocked to just the level of the lowest of the rest.

 

[bemused_fred]

The main problem with the 290 and 290X isn't the cooling, it's the fact that bitcoin and litecoin miners have driven the price of these cards up by $100-150; to the point where they are no longer a good deal at all.I was waiting for the custom cooled 290s to come out to upgrade my GTX 670 but now I may just wait for the next cards and maybe stick with nVidia.

This whole mess could have been avoided if they'd released after-market cooled cards at launch, and so made them actually worth buying back then.

 

[Snoob]

It looks like Artic Exccelero Extreme will take up to 3 slots when fitted? correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[FormatC]

You're right, the Accelero is a 2.5-slot cooler.

 

[englandr753]

Good read, thanks for the hard work and time invested to produce it. For me, I'm still happy with my 3x 6950's and I havent even felt the need to switch the 2nd BIOS on to run 6970 mode. Looks like I'll sit this release out and see if the next batch of cards can convince me to upgrade.

 

[9-Ball]

.... and I grow happier and happier with my 2 780 Ti's. I've used ATi/AMD video cards since the 3800 was new but I'm happily skipping this latest 'generation'. Anyone weighing a 290x vs 780Ti purchase, as I did for most of November and December, I would heartily recommend the latter, especially the EVGA OC'd model.

 

[eklipz330]

so i guess the reference 290/290x plus watercooler/kraken is the most viable option, especially if it comes down to less than what sapphire is offering, am i correct?

 

[west7]

thank you for the review i'm excited to see the msi card hop it will be included soon

 

[logainofhades]

I wouldn't mind a Sapphire R9 290, though I have no need of one.

 

[ezareth]

As an owner of an Asus R9 290X Directcu ii Card I'd like to say that Tom's either got a bad card for use in this test, or they did their testing after removing the heatsink and didn't reapply it correctly or something. Their temperatures are not consistent with what I'm seeing at all and if you look at other review sites Tom's temps are higher than those reviews as well.I looked closely at both the Sapphire Tri-X and Asus Directcu before deciding on the Directcu. I've played farcry 3 at 2560X1600 for 6 hours run utilizing ultra settings and I further overclocked the card to 1110Mhz and 5750 on the memory yet the card never crossed the 81C and usually sits at 80C (At 75% fan speed). When playing at stock settings the card is rock steady at 78C with stock fan speeds. I don't think the fact that all 5 heatpipes aren't touching the GPU is really relevant as it has full contact across the entire GPU. I agree the Tri-X cooler is superior to the Directcu, but that doesn't make the Directcu bad in any way.If you are considering an non-reference 290X there are some things about the Tri-X you should be aware of. For one it only comes with a 2 year warranty (While the Asus has a 3-year) and two, unlike what the article says it is a 3 slot card, not a 2 slot card. I'm planning on acquiring a second 290X for Crossfire once I find a suitable 4K monitor to game with and crossfire Tri-X due to the 3 slot form factor is not an optimal solution on most setups.Lastly on the noise, I can barely hear my card over the case fans on my Antec 1200 at 75% speed, when gaming I can't hear it at all. This card is far quieter at 75% speed than the 6970 Sapphire reference cards I replaced with it. Calling this card "Relatively Loud" does this site a disservice. It is possible either the case they were using had airflow problems (which would be surprising) or the card itself they tested on had some sort of problem (being at higher temperatures due to an issue would naturally ensure a higher fan speed)Just my two cents. Take this review with a grain of salt.

 

[FormatC]

The results were proofed by Asus - with the same conclusion. I'm disassembling and assembling cards since 18 years and I know what I do

Fact is (take a look at the heat sink) that the cooler is a failed construction. Sorry for this news, but it is a fact. If you have a case with a lot of fans inside, you can get lower temps - may be. And: the Tri-X is a clear 2-slot design, I've measured the card by myself.

This is really idiotic. Please tell me, how many heat pipes have contact to the GPU.

 

[ezareth]

Ok I spent a little more time researching this (which as a reviewing site I would have expected you guys to do instead). The Sapphire Tri-X does not have a "Quiet" mode or performance mode switch on the card. Instead it is a UEFI Boot mode switch. However, you stated at the beginning of the review "All of the Radeon R9 290X cards are set to their Quiet Mode firmware setting" which in the case of the Tri-X does not exist. What this means however is that the Asus card in quiet mode is set to allow its temperatures to rise to 94C. By nature of doing a comparison at this point you should have the other cards to their performance settings which is equal to the default Tri-X setting.

Secondly, Sapphire lists the Tri-X on their site: as a 2.2X which is the same as a 3 slot card. You can't put them back to back (not that anyone would do so with a non-blower design).

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/product_index.aspx?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1227&pid=2090&lid=1

Most importantly to me your results do not match the temperatures I am seeing on my existing card, in my existing setup. I have an Antec 1200 which is full tower case, but the fans are all stock and the case is not known for exceptional cooling. I do not think the results of your review are representative of what someone buying this card would expect in a normal air-cooled case.

As far as your assessment of the heatsink, have you ever seen a CPU heatsink that exactly matches the size of the CPU? No, they're all much larger (including the heatsink on the Tri-X) and that doesn't make the heatsink bad, it indicates waste on the part of the design that is contributing to the cooling of the card less, but in this case more heatpipes than come in contact with the GPU doesn't translate to the design being bad. I'm not saying the Tri-X cooler isn't superior, I'm saying labeling the Directcu cooler as "Too Hot" when you have it set to a setting that is DESIGNED to operate hot and"Relatively loud" when it is far quieter than the reference design is not very objective.

Ultimately the Asus DirectCU is overclocked higher than the Sapphire Tri-X so it is going to run hotter. There is just too little information about the cards and their different settings given in this review to make it particularly useful.

 

[m32]

Can graphics cards move to closed loop coolers now?

 

[rdc85]

Some manufacturers has giving a wc variant but it still need proper loop to utilize..

IMO this is better than they give AIO closed loop WC.. since it provide more flexibility, and more cooling capacity...

 

[jenniferrhicks]

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[FormatC]

All of the Radeon R9 290X cards are set to their Quiet Mode firmware setting

This is the jumper setting by factory and I've tested all cards out of the box in their default mode. I've measured the Tri-X dimensions and the results are listed in the table.

 

[GoliathPtXs]

waiting for the Asus r9 290/290x POSEIDON... i'll nerdgasm all over it

 

[TheDane]

I have Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X and it is very quiet - also under load! Very nice card indeed!

 

[sdgsdf]

@ GURG did not see those prices at microcenter even at the denver location