Question R9 290x with a loud Reference cooler...

kmcderm133

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May 13, 2018
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Hi. I have an XFX Radeon R9 290x 4GB card with a reference cooler, purchased used. It works just fine, I've used Afterburner to set a decent fan curve, I think, and limited the temperature to 75C. Plus it's in a Coolermaster HAF X case with the side intake fan blowing on it. It's still very loud during gaming, and even just looking at this page the temperature is about 40C. I've looked everywhere for cooling options, so far the Morpheus 2 looks like the best, but I was hoping for something cheaper; after the cost of the Morpheus you have to add fans, and the necessary accessories to adapt those fans to your card, which seems to be the best option for fan control. I found an Arctic ACcelero Xtreme 3 for a little over $100 on Newegg, it's my understanding from an article on this site that it retailed for $75 new.
I guess my question is: Are there any other options? I don't intend to do any overclocking, I just want it to run efficiently, like a normal graphics card. And I'm on a budget. Small AIO liquid coolers are an alternative, I don't know if there are any made for this card, but they won't cool the vRAM and other components. I've seen some people have modded their reference coolers to omit the GPU heatsink and use an AIO instead, leaving the rest of the reference cooler intact. I'm not sure I'd have room in my case for the radiator: The best spot for it would be the exhaust fan next to the CPU, I've never used any liquid cooling before, so I don't know how much air could still pass through to assist cooling the CPU. I'm open to suggestions though!
Thanks in advance. :)
 
Hi. I have an XFX Radeon R9 290x 4GB card with a reference cooler, purchased used. It works just fine, I've used Afterburner to set a decent fan curve, I think, and limited the temperature to 75C. Plus it's in a Coolermaster HAF X case with the side intake fan blowing on it. It's still very loud during gaming, and even just looking at this page the temperature is about 40C. I've looked everywhere for cooling options, so far the Morpheus 2 looks like the best, but I was hoping for something cheaper; after the cost of the Morpheus you have to add fans, and the necessary accessories to adapt those fans to your card, which seems to be the best option for fan control. I found an Arctic ACcelero Xtreme 3 for a little over $100 on Newegg, it's my understanding from an article on this site that it retailed for $75 new.
I guess my question is: Are there any other options? I don't intend to do any overclocking, I just want it to run efficiently, like a normal graphics card. And I'm on a budget. Small AIO liquid coolers are an alternative, I don't know if there are any made for this card, but they won't cool the vRAM and other components. I've seen some people have modded their reference coolers to omit the GPU heatsink and use an AIO instead, leaving the rest of the reference cooler intact. I'm not sure I'd have room in my case for the radiator: The best spot for it would be the exhaust fan next to the CPU, I've never used any liquid cooling before, so I don't know how much air could still pass through to assist cooling the CPU. I'm open to suggestions though!
Thanks in advance. :)
Tried to total clean the card and repaste it with a good paste?
 

kmcderm133

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May 13, 2018
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4,515
Tried to total clean the card and repaste it with a good paste?
I bought the card off Craigslist. The man I bought it from said he replaced the thermal paste recently. (Yeah, I know...) I don't mind doing it myself, but if I do I'd like to replace the thermal pads as well, just to be on the safe side. I don't know where to source them from without opening the card.
Edit: Even then, I think that might be a stopgap measure, I'd like to go to a better cooler in the end.
 
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kmcderm133

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May 13, 2018
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Tried to total clean the card and repaste it with a good paste?
OK, I've repasted the card. I didn't replace the thermal pads, they were all present and seemed to be in good shape to me. The card still idles at 39C, and Thief 2014's Benchmark feature brings it up to about 53C.
Also, I found this small switch on the side, the side that faces out of the side of the case. It's not labelled that I can see, and I have no idea what it does. I'm going to leave it in the position I found it, I hope I didn't shift it while I was handling the card!
Edit: I should have googled first... the very first result shows me that it's a dual BIOS switch, with a 'quiet' mode, and an 'uber' mode. Interesting, but weird.