Should I underclock my Sapphire R9 280x Vapor-X for less noise/temperature under load?

[curioususer123]

I just had a look at http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-R9-280x-third-party-round-up,review-32817-4.html and was shocked to see the cheaper models of the R9 280x have lower temperature and noise under full load - I could've got them instead, but it's a bit late now!

Why is the R9 280x Vapor-X much louder? I've played Tomb Raider 2013 on ultra and Skyrim with custom texture mods and my temperature was at maximum 67 degrees but it was quite loud. I had a look at the Asus R9 280x DirectCUll and now I regret not getting that one.

The default GPU clock on a R9 280x is 1070mhz, memory clock is 1550 and VDDC is 1256 - how much should I downclock to still get maximum fps on my games but not make it sound like an airplane?

 

[leeb2013]

Hey everyone, I undervolted my R9 280x vapour-x to 1175 VDDC from 1256, the GPU was as stable as ever but a lot cooler, are there any dangers to undervoltng besides stability?

Here's benchmarks from 10 minutes of Heaven.

Also, a bit of a stupid question, I have a fan underneath the GPU since it takes air in, but I'm not sure if the fan is blowing in or out! Is the label meant to be in the case for air to be blown in?

no issues undervolting except for stability. It should increase the life as the GPU and VRMs will be stressed less.

Fans usually blow towards the fan support arms, so these should be on top if your fan is in the bottom of your case. Can you take the side off to feel the air flow?

 

[Sosk]

Hey everyone, I undervolted my R9 280x vapour-x to 1175 VDDC from 1256, the GPU was as stable as ever but a lot cooler, are there any dangers to undervoltng besides stability?

Here's benchmarks from 10 minutes of Heaven.

Also, a bit of a stupid question, I have a fan underneath the GPU since it takes air in, but I'm not sure if the fan is blowing in or out! Is the label meant to be in the case for air to be blown in?

no issues undervolting except for stability. It should increase the life as the GPU and VRMs will be stressed less.

Fans usually blow towards the fan support arms, so these should be on top if your fan is in the bottom of your case. Can you take the side off to feel the air flow?

leeb , i wanted to save my own settings in the card bios so that i don't have to change the voltage every time i open my pc .. u have any idea how to do that ?

 

[leeb2013]

Hey everyone, I undervolted my R9 280x vapour-x to 1175 VDDC from 1256, the GPU was as stable as ever but a lot cooler, are there any dangers to undervoltng besides stability?

Here's benchmarks from 10 minutes of Heaven.

Also, a bit of a stupid question, I have a fan underneath the GPU since it takes air in, but I'm not sure if the fan is blowing in or out! Is the label meant to be in the case for air to be blown in?

no issues undervolting except for stability. It should increase the life as the GPU and VRMs will be stressed less.

Fans usually blow towards the fan support arms, so these should be on top if your fan is in the bottom of your case. Can you take the side off to feel the air flow?

leeb , i wanted to save my own settings in the card bios so that i don't have to change the voltage every time i open my pc .. u have any idea how to do that ?

you have to edit the bios using VBE here;

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189089

understand the risks though and have a read through all the information. It's less risky if your card has a BIOS switch with a user BIOS to flash. I've flashed dozens of times with no issues, but worse case you can brick your card. Some cards don't support making changes to the BIOS.