PowerColor Radeon R9 290X PCS+ Review?

[thaares]

Has anyone reviewed this card jet, I preordered it cause they messed up pricing so i paid it for the value of non x but I'm not sure what the preformance will be like thermals and noise.

 

[phate1337]

Hi Thaares

as posted...

http://techreport.com/news/25882/new-powercolor-pcs-r9-290-series-cards-have-humongous-heatsinks

the state "PowerColor claims this cooler design lowers temperatures by 24% and reduces noise levels by 17% compared to the stock AMD solution".

nice sturdy backplate on it!

Having 3 fans doing the same work as 1 in terms of shifting air will indeed improve thermals and generate less noise as the need to spin at a far far lower RPM.

No official reviews yet as it was only revealed at CES recently so no one can get their hands on it physically.

Regards

 

[NicholasTheGreat]

Greetings.

I just recently (yesterday) got my 290 (non X) PCS+. Since there are no any reviews whatsoever I'll post a few screenshots and hopefully someone finds them helpful
Some stats using GPU-Z

Temps while idle

Temps in full load

As for the acoustics:
While idle, fans are completely noiseless. And by completely I DO mean completely.
Under full load they were definitely noticable, but not by much. Game sounds (ambient sounds) were more than enough to overwhelm the noise coming from the cooler. Lets just say that it was nowhere near a hairdryer

 

[thaares]

wow 68 celsius, thats awesome thanks. how did you get to full load? furmark or gaming and how long did you stress it? what case do you use and how many case fans?

 

[NicholasTheGreat]

I didn't use an actual stress test. It was the inbuilt one. I now ran furmark and after 15 minutes the temp was stuck at 76-77-78. I have BitFenix Shadow with 2 fans. 1 at front (in) and 1 at back (out).

 

[jktmstokes1]

I was thinking about getting one of these with my 290 sapphire tri-x. Does it down throttle at all? Is a 3 slot cooler? And has it been consistent with temps and noise? My tri-x is so quiet and cool... Don't know if I should get another Sapphire or go Powercolor.

 

[NicholasTheGreat]

It doesn't throttle at all. While playing crysis 3 at maximum settings including 8x MSAA the temp never went above 64C. My surround sound system simply annihilated any noise coming from it, but its there. And yes, its a 3 (2.5 to be precise) slot cooler. I really liked how its all made of metal. Feels fancy

 

[jktmstokes1]

Nice! That's good. There are no benchmarks or reviews out for it yet, so any thing you say is of awesome help
Overall you are satisfied with it I guess? Any other comments? The only thing that gives me pause is that it is 2.5 slots big

 

[NicholasTheGreat]

Hey... I switched from 5770 to 290. I went from 14 average FPS to 86 average FPS in Tomb Raider (Ultimate settings including tressFX), so I'm pretty happy
I have only good things to say about it, but if I were you, I'd probably go for Tri-X just for the symmetry and to satisfy my "OCD senses".

 

[jktmstokes1]

haha very true. My only goal was getting the coolest card on air.

 

[craftyman]

I didn't use an actual stress test. It was the inbuilt one. I now ran furmark and after 15 minutes the temp was stuck at 76-77-78. I have BitFenix Shadow with 2 fans. 1 at front (in) and 1 at back (out).

Hey can you show the vrm temps for me please? Also do you notice any coil whine? Only two things I'm not sure about when it comes down to this card vs sapphire tri-x thanks

 

[NicholasTheGreat]

No coil whine. Unless I'm playing something really demanding, there is no audible sound coming from the card.
After 15-20mins, using the integrated "render test" since I already removed furmark

 

[jktmstokes1]

power usage looks low?

 

[thaares]

has anyone in Europe got this card I am waiting since 17.1.14?

 

[craftyman]

No coil whine. Unless I'm playing something really demanding, there is no audible sound coming from the card.
After 15-20mins, using the integrated "render test" since I already removed furmark

Thank you.

 

[delpy8]

has anyone in Europe got this card I am waiting since 17.1.14?

Hi overclockers have them both in stock I'm going to buy the 290 version as the 290x is £149 more expensive