Tuning Radeon R9 290X: Replace The Thermal Paste For More Efficiency

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Do you really think I want to get in the so-called Uber-mode a hearing loss? No insurance will pay for this. 😀

The problem is an outdated and absolutely undersized cooling solution with a cheap and loud fan, not the GPU. It is a bad assembled card and doesn't look like High-End. Let's wait for better custom cards with better cooling solutions and I'll give it a try again. But this reference hurricane is nothing for my nerves and ears. 😉
 
For the love of God, never purchase a Reference GPU. It doesn't matter AMD or Nvidia -- wait a week or if needed a few weeks. I read the last article and for $70 adding an aftermarket AIR Cooler!? IMO CrAzY.

Reference Cards (Almost All) have poorer OC's, Higher Temps, (WAY) Higher Noise, etc. The Nvidia GTX 770, 780, Titan, etc had at best 'okay' reference designs but every non-reference after, to my knowledge, beats them all.
 


Yeah Uber mode is not going to cause hearing loss. You can look at several pages of first hand accounts from owners to get an actual feel for the real impact. The general consensus seems to be that while loud, in a normal enthusiast PC case it's certainly tolerable. Seems to be a bit better than the 79xx cooler as far as acoustics (though it needs to spin faster to cool to the card making it louder overall). If you personally don't like it, vote with your wallet. But the hearing loss drama is just over the top.

AMD made a dense GPU for cost reasons, which they are passing onto the consumer. Just like Ivy Bridge and Haswell increased transistor density makes cooling more difficult. AMD was probably faced with loosing part of their pricing edge to put on a better cooler. It appears they decided to go with the price advantage. Yes, you can debate about the raw material cost and it's bottom line impact. But these cards have to be profitable and be able to recoup their R&D and advertising costs. So compromises were made to produce this product at this price point.

Tom's made an article that accused AMD of cherry picking samples. When they revealed their findings it came out that the mode that throttles acoustics in favor of performance was throttling more than it should depending on what components a vendor decided to use. The original article generated quite a stir and the actual findings more of a shrug. This article on thermal paste replacement is overall a good one and informative. But the subtext is there. They are still trying to pass off Quiet mode as the main mode of the card and Uber mode as a horribly objectionable proposition. The reality is that Uber mode is the mode designed for performance and the one enthusiast will be probably be the most interested in. Other review sites continue to show results for both modes of the card. Tom's isn't. I'm guessing it's because to validate Uber mode would make their original variance article look even sillier.

If you really doubt this, go to actual forums and look at the feedback from the owners. Yes some do find the fans to over the top. But the majority fall into the loud but tolerable category. Again if it's to much for you, vote with your wallet. Personally my full tower case has so many fans moving air through it already that my 7970 has to be really cranked to notice it. Based on the data the 290 wouldn't be much different. I'm still on the fence on whether to wait for the next node shrink or not. The increase in transistor density is only going to make cooling a bigger headache for both Nvidia and AMD. Sigh.
 
Sorry, but I still even decide what I like and what not. I do not make my opinion based on any forums posts - only to be mass-compatible for the AMD fanbase. I'm independend and old enough to know, what I do. My own PC works with two high-end VGA cards, a heavy OC'ed CPU and all the 600 rpm fans inside a lot quieter than one of this single cards. Sorry, but here in Europe is the noise level more interesting than a few fps more or less. An please - cherry picking? How many cards we have to buy from our own money to find the golden sample between al this retail cards?

AMD made a dense GPU for cost reasons, which they are passing onto the consumer
Click to expand...

This was a good one. Cost reasons in the high-end sector. They lost again a lot of reputation because one of the accountants means to save 15 bucks this way. This is not funny, this is not marketing - this is the typical behavior of cost optimization at any price. This is too short-sighted :)


 


If your PC is quiet to the point that the higher fan mode on the 290x would be objectionable to you, by all means buy the card that fits your preference. But claiming you'll be "deaf" is just silly.

The point I was making is there was no Golden Sample conspiracy (despite the inferences made by Tom's). There was a variance caused by how fan monitoring worked and the components vendors equipped their cards with. If you believe there was one, go back and read what they actually found.



Transistor density is absolutely a cost saving measure for the manufacturer. You get more parts per wafer. As far as the cooling fan goes. There is a design cost. There is a parts cost. Both are factors. Factors that AMD certainly looked at and it led them to decide they couldn't do a different cooler and meet the price point they wanted. I would have loved to see a better cooler too. But that's not what we got. You see it as shortsighted. My guess is that the cooler cost would have inflated the price point enough that they felt they would lose sales due to the higher cost. Really it boils down to whether you are willing to make the trade off of cost for acoustics. Time will tell if they went the right way. Of course custom boards, if they aren't overpriced, will probably go a long way to pleasing both sides of the equation.
 
FYI:
I've tested the uber mode too. Short and with a nice result: the efficency is not better. On the contrary. I'm not a Nvidia fanboy to bring this as a story. I had longer discussions with AMD guys and AICs - nobody knows the reason why AMD has not used the planned Sapphire cooler. Ask the accountants, not the engineers. The HD 7990 was a step in the right direction but the R9 290(x) is a big step back. The GPU is good, the cooling solution is years behind. The same crap as the 5870.
 
Wow so AMD has their 3 runs into benchmarks for lower frames heat cheat going on.
Thanks for the charts, the true speed of the amd x290 is the 3rd run, the slowest of all, unless of course you're a minuteman gamer.
 
I imagine a water test will come shortly. Keep in mind people, these articles typically take a few weeks to complete and water blocks just barely showed up. Even if they started testing them at release, it will still take some time to run the tests and compile the results.
 


Or you could maybe run the card in performance mode and not the performance throttling acoustic mode as Tom's did. Then you would pretty much see the same performance across all 3 runs. But that wouldn't stir up as much controversy and rile up people that don't read the fine print.
 
Well.. I just took a look at my Sapphire R9 290 and I see no warranty seals. Anyone knows where they could be hiding?
 
hi guys i have a R9 290 from asus, i m thinking about doing the paste change, i was wondering, do i have to change only the GPU paste or all the "stickers-style" paste on the board too ?
i will use artic silver 5 also ..
thanks in advance !
 
hi guys i have a R9 290 from asus, i m thinking about doing the paste change, i was wondering, do i have to change only the GPU paste or all the "stickers-style" paste on the board too ?
i will use artic silver 5 also ..
thanks in advance !
 
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