Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290 idling at 52C

[giygaskeptpraying]

I just got a Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290 and it's idling at 51-52C. That seems a little absurdly high to me...does anyone have any ideas what could be causing it? As I understand it Vapor-X models are supposed to be cooler, not this much warmer...I thought it might be because I have my monitor at 144Hz but putting it back at 60 Hz didn't change the temperature at all.

 

[Iron124]

My advice is to put some serious load on the card and see how high it gets. If it doesn't get above 95C you should be okay. AMD designed the 290's to run hot, relatively VERY hot compared to some other GPU's. As long as it stays within operating temperatures, it should be okay. If you're really worried, conform that the GPU fan is spinning properly, and your case has the necessary ventilation.

 

[giygaskeptpraying]

Thanks, I'll do some testing and see how it goes. The "SAPPHIRE" LED glows blue and I think it's supposed to become red when it gets hot?

 

[mtdew332]

Yep, it should turn yellow when gaming...never red.
Also, its probably idling at 51c-52c because you have the "intelligent fan switch" turned on which shuts down the two outside fans during idle and only uses the center fan.

Flip the switch so all 3 fans run and your idle temps should come down.

Also, use GPU-Z to check the fan-speed % during idle....if its like 20%, you'll benefit a lot from using something like MSI Afterburner to set a custom fan profile that runs the fans at 40% - 50% during idle and 60% - 70% during gaming....even at those speeds the Sapphire fans should still be nearly silent.

No need to run your card at 95c if you don't have to....I run my Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X fans on a custom profile that never lets it go above 70c while gaming and around 42c when idle....the Vapor-x should certainly do better since its a better cooler.

 

[Andrew Buck]

It looks like you may not have good airflow. If you have a Mini-ITX or mATX case, it could be problematic in terms of cooling. That card usually idles around 30-35 C.

 

[mtdew332]

It looks like you may not have good airflow. If you have a Mini-ITX or mATX case, it could be problematic in terms of cooling. That card usually idles around 30-35 C.

Andrew is right about that also, I have a CM HAF-X so my airflow is probably a bit better than most cases.

 

[Andrew Buck]

It looks like you may not have good airflow. If you have a Mini-ITX or mATX case, it could be problematic in terms of cooling. That card usually idles around 30-35 C.

Andrew is right about that also, I have a CM HAF-X so my airflow is probably a bit better than most cases.

I like my HAF too

 

[mtdew332]

Had to remove my VGA fan/shroud when I got my Tri-x...darn thing is long! LOL
So I mounted two fans where the shroud usually goes....so I lost one fan and added two....works for me.

 

[Andrew Buck]

Had to remove my VGA fan/shroud when I got my Tri-x...darn thing is long! LOL
So I mounted two fans where the shroud usually goes....so I lost one fan and added two....works for me.

I would see if your airflow is good. Make sure you have a lot of fans.

 

[mtdew332]

Not sure why you quoted me on the fans...what I meant was the HAF-X comes with a GPU fan shroud that you put a fan inside that blows air directly over the GPU's. (see 4:09 in the video above)
But the Tri-X and Vapor-X are a little too long for the shroud to fit, so I mounted two fans there without the shroud instead.
The shroud worked great for my 7950's in x-fire, but it just doesn't quite fit with the 12" 290 long Tri-X.

 

[Andrew Buck]

Not sure why you quoted me on the fans...what I meant was the HAF-X comes with a GPU fan shroud that you put a fan inside that blows air directly over the GPU's. (see 4:09 in the video above)
But the Tri-X and Vapor-X are a little too long for the shroud to fit, so I mounted two fans there without the shroud instead.
The shroud worked great for my 7950's in x-fire, but it just doesn't quite fit with the 12" 290 long Tri-X.

Derp. Wrong person.

 

[mtdew332]

Not sure why you quoted me on the fans...what I meant was the HAF-X comes with a GPU fan shroud that you put a fan inside that blows air directly over the GPU's. (see 4:09 in the video above)
But the Tri-X and Vapor-X are a little too long for the shroud to fit, so I mounted two fans there without the shroud instead.
The shroud worked great for my 7950's in x-fire, but it just doesn't quite fit with the 12" 290 long Tri-X.

Derp. Wrong person.

I should have known that...my bad.
I built the wifes PC with the CM HAF 922 Limited RED Edition..its pretty nice too...not quite the airflow of my HAF-X(ie: hers could use a side-fan on the window)...but its a very nice case with good airflow for the price.

Ok, back on topic.... and dont forget that reviews usually test temps in an open test bench and you cannot compare your temps with those since your GPU is actually in a case.
Example: If you look at Anandtechs review of the R9 290 Tri-x , HERE....You'll see they get idle temps of 30C.....yeah well good luck with that in the real world without water cooling.....on air / in a case i'd say anywhere from 40c - 50c idle is about normal depending on ambient temps.

 

[Andrew Buck]

Not sure why you quoted me on the fans...what I meant was the HAF-X comes with a GPU fan shroud that you put a fan inside that blows air directly over the GPU's. (see 4:09 in the video above)
But the Tri-X and Vapor-X are a little too long for the shroud to fit, so I mounted two fans there without the shroud instead.
The shroud worked great for my 7950's in x-fire, but it just doesn't quite fit with the 12" 290 long Tri-X.

Derp. Wrong person.

I should have known that...my bad.
I built the wifes PC with the CM HAF 922 Limited RED Edition..its pretty nice too...not quite the airflow of my HAF-X(ie: hers could use a side-fan on the window)...but its a very nice case with good airflow for the price.

Ok, back on topic.... and dont forget that reviews usually test temps in an open test bench and you cannot compare your temps with those since your GPU is actually in a case.
Example: If you look at Anandtechs review of the R9 290 Tri-x , HERE....You'll see they get idle temps of 30C.....yeah well good luck with that in the real world without water cooling.....on air / in a case i'd say anywhere from 40c - 50c idle is about normal depending on ambient temps.

Lucky her, that case is awesome.

 

[mtdew332]

Im very lucky, my wife is a huge FPS gamer and even watches football.
And before anyone asks, no, i'm not posting pics and no she doesn't have a mustache....LOL

 

[Andrew Buck]

Im very lucky, my wife is a huge FPS gamer and even watches football.
And before anyone asks, no, i'm not posting pics and no she doesn't have a mustache....LOL

LOL Nice job.

 

[rbarnhart]

Just a note: The Sapphire Logo turning red is fine. It will appear red once you cross the 75 degree threshold. I know this as I am running 2 290x vaporx oc cards in crossfire in my HAF-X case and the top card will on occasion in certain games on ultra settings run hot. By hot I mean it can hit close to 80 degrees while the bottom is running under 70. I ALWAYS monitor with Afterburner to be safe, but the temp is fine.

To mtdew332, how did you mount 2 fans where the vga cooler previously was? I had to eliminate the shroud and the vga cooler and the air duct cooler to fit both cards in. I had previously cut down the air duct and reshaped it to fit a single card, but now in crossfire it simply won't fit with the 290x cards.

 

[dmatthewstewart]

I just got a Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290 and it's idling at 51-52C. That seems a little absurdly high to me...does anyone have any ideas what could be causing it? As I understand it Vapor-X models are supposed to be cooler, not this much warmer...I thought it might be because I have my monitor at 144Hz but putting it back at 60 Hz didn't change the temperature at all.

Hey man, Ive been playing with my card for a while and I had the same problem out of the box. With IFC enabled I idle at 47-48 celcius. I upgraded from a 7950 which idled at 36 celcius, so you can imagine my concern.

I do notice that under load it stays cooler than the 7950 but Im still not crazy about the high idle temps. The only way I get around this is to deactivate the IFC and to set a custom fan profile in Afterburner. (I got rid of TRI-XX). My custom fan curve is pretty simple. It stays at 25% up until 40 celcius. After that the fan speed percentage is 5 less than the temp. So 45 celcius has my fan spinning at 40%. This usually keeps the temps (even under full load and hours of gaming) less than 65 celcius. Some think that is a little too extreme but there is nothing wrong with making sure your card is cool.