PowerColor LCS AXR9 290X: Water Makes Hawaii Comfortable

[clonazepam]

Well i was hoping to hit the OC page and see some 1300 mhz clock speed but I guess you can't have everything. EKWB are machined very well, but I might have popped it off to check the TIM.

I'm sitting here looking at a pile of flow plates for my own EK WBs, so I'm wondering which one the manufacturer decided to go with.

Can't blame temperatures for this one, it stayed cool throughout the test.

Yeah it was more 2 seperate things, wanting to see stupid high OCs, and curiosity about the MFR

 

[JumpeiSC]

I think I'm going to stop browse Toms until they start using 2560x1440. I just don't understand why a $400 monitor just can't be found. Or at least use downscaling to SIMULATE it.

 

[RedJaron]

I think I'm going to stop browse Toms until they start using 2560x1440. I just don't understand why a $400 monitor just can't be found. Or at least use downscaling to SIMULATE it.

They use 1440 on quite a few higher end GPU reviews already. However, the 290 and X variants have already had a LOT of testing so they don't need to rehash everything about them. This was just a test of what a water block could do for the temps and thermal throttling.

Also,
2560 x 1440 = 3,686,400 pixels
4800 x 900 = 4,320,000 pixels
5760 x 1080 = 6,220,800 pixels

The triple screen displays are here are more demanding than a 1440p display. Also, I'm no monitor expert, but a quick look around Newegg and Amazon show the only QHD monitors under $400 are from MONEX, QNix, and Crossover. None of those are brands I'm familiar with or would trust.

 

[jase240]

Its cool that an aftermarket solution has been made to fix most issues.But personally if your using a GPU for gaming right now AMD isn't the best choice. Nvidia wins by far in overall quality/performance per dollar.

 

[Agente Silva]

I don´t see the point of spending more than 400€ on a R9290 to do 160 FPS on 1920-1080 (where the FPS sweet spot is between 70-100 FPS) but then when you load a 5760*1080 resolution you can´t reach 30 FPS... this shows exactly that value for money of a single GPU (even if it´s 290/290X) is way underated Vs Xfire R9270/R9280.So, long story short, if you´re running 3 display setup you are far better with 2x270/280 (360€/560€)

 

[lxgoldsmith]

So could a water cooled gpu such as this take just one slot instead of two? That would be a benefit to a thinner card

 

[RedJaron]

So could a water cooled gpu such as this take just one slot instead of two? That would be a benefit to a thinner card

Possibly, but you'd have to change the I/O plate. What connector(s) do you leave off?

 

[Crashman]

I think I'm going to stop browse Toms until they start using 2560x1440. I just don't understand why a $400 monitor just can't be found. Or at least use downscaling to SIMULATE it.

So could a water cooled gpu such as this take just one slot instead of two? That would be a benefit to a thinner card

Possibly, but you'd have to change the I/O plate. What connector(s) do you leave off?

I'd leave-off the second DVI connector, since I run three monitors across the top three connectors

 

[lxgoldsmith]

I think I'm going to stop browse Toms until they start using 2560x1440. I just don't understand why a $400 monitor just can't be found. Or at least use downscaling to SIMULATE it.

So could a water cooled gpu such as this take just one slot instead of two? That would be a benefit to a thinner card

Possibly, but you'd have to change the I/O plate. What connector(s) do you leave off?

I'd leave-off the second DVI connector, since I run three monitors across the top three connectors

I'd switch them both to mini-dvi and include adapters. maybe even add another or even cut the rest for 4x mini-dvi.

 

[Crashman]

I think I'm going to stop browse Toms until they start using 2560x1440. I just don't understand why a $400 monitor just can't be found. Or at least use downscaling to SIMULATE it.

So could a water cooled gpu such as this take just one slot instead of two? That would be a benefit to a thinner card

Possibly, but you'd have to change the I/O plate. What connector(s) do you leave off?

I'd leave-off the second DVI connector, since I run three monitors across the top three connectors

I'd switch them both to mini-dvi and include adapters. maybe even add another or even cut the rest for 4x mini-dvi.

How about 2x mini-dvi and 2x mini DisplayPort?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I am a bit confused with regard to what the 2nd GPUz shot indicates on page 11. The text states::"With temperatures in check, our retail Asus Radeon R9 290X with reference cooling pushes a 12% GPU overclock and 15% memory overclock."And there is a GPUz shot below indicating those numbers..... but then there is another GPUz shot indicating a 20% OC and no explanation as to what that represents. Among my little group of WC enthusiasts, we are seeing average OC's on the 780 (not Ti) of 25% (20% on memory) and 12.5% on the 290x (16% on memory)

 

[Crashman]

I am a bit confused with regard to what the 2nd GPUz shot indicates on page 11. The text states::"With temperatures in check, our retail Asus Radeon R9 290X with reference cooling pushes a 12% GPU overclock and 15% memory overclock."And there is a GPUz shot below indicating those numbers..... but then there is another GPUz shot indicating a 20% OC and no explanation as to what that represents. Among my little group of WC enthusiasts, we are seeing average OC's on the 780 (not Ti) of 25% (20% on memory) and 12.5% on the 290x (16% on memory)

You mean the image under the description "I shouldn’t have been surprised, then, to find this specific LCS AXR9 290X sample sustaining lower (DRAM) clock rates, in spite of its improved GPU headroom."
That's the PowerColor LCS at 20% over-stock GPU

 

[JackNaylorPE]

So, if I got t now, then you are saying that it was able to do 20% on the GPU but just 12% on the memory. Thatz good news..... better GPU OC than I have seen so far on the 290x, tho as you said, not so hot on the memory. Do you find that the 290x is "Haswell like" in that OC results seem to me to vary over a much wider range with the 290x than we have seen with identical cards in the past..... in other words, the silicon lottery seems to have a wider "standard deviation" than typical.

Some cards in my experience have been very easy Overclockers..... I have had great luck for example with the Asus DCII's 560 Ti, 670 and 780 getting 25% GPU / 20% memory rather consistently. Even in the same brand, the 570 and 770 were not as robust in their ability for big OCs. Till now I hadn't seen many 290x's able to consistently maintain above 10% on air and 15% on water in actual use.

 

[Crashman]

So, if I got t now, then you are saying that it was able to do 20% on the GPU but just 12% on the memory. Thatz good news..... better GPU OC than I have seen so far on the 290x, tho as you said, not so hot on the memory. Do you find that the 290x is "Haswell like" in that OC results seem to me to vary over a much wider range with the 290x than we have seen with identical cards in the past..... in other words, the silicon lottery seems to have a wider "standard deviation" than typical.

Some cards in my experience have been very easy Overclockers..... I have had great luck for example with the Asus DCII's 560 Ti, 670 and 780 getting 25% GPU / 20% memory rather consistently. Even in the same brand, the 570 and 770 were not as robust in their ability for big OCs. Till now I hadn't seen many 290x's able to consistently maintain above 10% on air and 15% on water in actual use.

Overclocking Hawaii is pretty crazy, you get 1600 MHz on a GPU at 90%+ stability but then it only goes 1180 with 100% stability. Then you try another and it goes 1200 MHz with 100% stability but is completely unstable at 1220 MHz.

If you're running stock power limit, you'll probably get a much higher O/C than if you increase the power limit to the max. On the other hand, if you're running stock power limit at say 1400 MHz it could drop to 800 MHz just when you get into a really tough scene in the game. You can in fact set your system up to get higher average FPS with lower minimum FPS and make an unplayable system look like the leader by using averages.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Yes....overclocking of late seems to be harder to tie in these days all around.....

My, and many others, OC profiles under BIOS 0804 have been trashed by all of the more current releases ....

I did detailed testing on a pair of 780s and found that higher core speeds and higher memories did not always translate into higher bench scores.

Looking at peeps trying alternate custom BIOSs, I saw significantly higher scores, but no higher benchies.

My CPU / GPU OCs pass all the standard benchmarks and most games but there was 1 spot on Metro 2033 that I had to notch them down a bit to get thru,

My son will oft use my desktop at night (he has a lappie) to play BF4 and it would go down as often as every 15 minutes some days .... others not.... even at stock settings across the board, he still crashes at least 3 times a night.

 

[wtfxxxgp]

I really need to get with the program and get a W/C solution for my rig. In South Africa we experience ambient room temps of between 16 and 18 degrees in winter ONLY...and that's on really cold days. In summer, factory-clocked PC's here results in serious fan noise, not to mention overclocking parts.

 

[lxgoldsmith]

I really need to get with the program and get a W/C solution for my rig. In South Africa we experience ambient room temps of between 16 and 18 degrees in winter ONLY...and that's on really cold days. In summer, factory-clocked PC's here results in serious fan noise, not to mention overclocking parts.

in hot climates like that, you may want a frion/phase cooler that functions the same way that a refrigerator does. Even water coolers are just as limited by ambient temps.

take a look - http://kingpincooling.com/forum/showthread.php?t=490