AMD’s R9 290X might not be the full chip after all

[NeverBackDown]

The 290X Matrix I had tells a different story, Even at stock that thing was an oven, The temps were insane, One of the reasons I took it back and got a 780 Ti which for once in my life I won the silicon lottery with.

I just honestly don't understand why AMD thought it was ok for these stupidly high temps and yes I know you have great temps but yours are on water cooling so doesn't count

That is also because the Matrix isn't that great of an air cooling card. If you got the lightning then yes you would have been far more pleased.

 

[Dicehunter]

That is also because the Matrix isn't that great of an air cooling card. If you got the lightning then yes you would have been far more pleased.

For me to like a GPU it has to have 3 things, Performance, Temps and good looks, The lightning ticked 2 of those boxes but I really don't like the way it looks.

The side fins being on show and not covered up to me looks messy, I prefer a card like the reference 780 Ti where it is all enclosed and tidy.

 

[NeverBackDown]

For me to like a GPU it has to have 3 things, Performance, Temps and good looks, The lightning ticked 2 of those boxes but I really don't like the way it looks.

The side fins being on show and not covered up to me looks messy, I prefer a card like the reference 780 Ti where it is all enclosed and tidy.

That's not really the point i was making. But anyway if you wanted those 3 things in a card then the Matrix shouldn't have ticked the temps box since its not good with temps at all on air. So really you were destined to be dissapointed with the Matrix since it did not tick all those boxes you were after..

 

[Dicehunter]

That's not really the point i was making. But anyway if you wanted those 3 things in a card then the Matrix shouldn't have ticked the temps box since its not good with temps at all on air. So really you were destined to be dissapointed with the Matrix since it did not tick all those boxes you were after..

Thank you captain hindsight, I only found that out after I got the card hence why I returned it ^_^

 

[barnsley]

The 290X Matrix I had tells a different story, Even at stock that thing was an oven, The temps were insane, One of the reasons I took it back and got a 780 Ti which for once in my life I won the silicon lottery with.

I just honestly don't understand why AMD thought it was ok for these stupidly high temps and yes I know you have great temps but yours are on water cooling so doesn't count

Funnily enough the matrix has a crap cooler, don't know if you noticed that . The partners that tried with cooling managed to get them down to 75c. Besides, isn't the matrix designed for LN2 so air cooling wasn't a priority I presume.

 

[Kaapstad]

The point is AIB custom coolers are up to the job even if you were to put a lot more watts through the card than a few extra cores would need.

Heck even the reference cooler does it's job well (apart from the noise) and can keep 4 overclocked cards on air in the mid 80s.

I would rather have two 290Xs on any air cooling solution than a 295X2 on that totally crap solution AMD used where there have been too many compromises made that limit performance.

 

[Dicehunter]

Funnily enough the matrix has a crap cooler, don't know if you noticed that . The partners that tried with cooling managed to get them down to 75c. Besides, isn't the matrix designed for LN2 so air cooling wasn't a priority I presume.

As I said above, Thank you captain hindsight

I was going to do my first LN2 session with a friend in the near future but considering I use my rig everyday the heat just got too much.

The point is AIB custom coolers are up to the job even if you were to put a lot more watts through the card than a few extra cores would need.

Heck even the reference cooler does it's job well (apart from the noise) and can keep 4 overclocked cards on air in the mid 80s.

I would rather have two 290Xs on any air cooling solution than a 295X2 on that totally crap solution AMD used where there have been too many compromises made that limit performance.

The reference cooler sucked massive balls, Throttling was a huge issue unless you turned the fans up a lot and then it sounded like a jet engine.

I hope AMD do a better job with the next gen otherwise it's Nvidia again.

 

[Kaapstad]

The reference cooler sucked massive balls, Throttling was a huge issue unless you turned the fans up a lot and then it sounded like a jet engine.

As I said above, apart from the noise.

Having said that though it did it's job of getting rid of the heat.

 

[Dicehunter]

As I said above, apart from the noise.

Having said that though it did it's job of getting rid of the heat.

That it did but the noise was terrible, Very lazy engineering.

I would be saying the exact same thing If this was on Nvidia, I have zero favorites in the GPU industry I just can't stand heat and noise ergo AMD is a no go for me until the 300 series which I really hope they get right this time

 

[trawetSluaP]

I had a 290X Lightning and it hit 95C in seconds under load. May have been faulty. Either way it was promptly sent back and now I have a Kingpin

 

[SieB]

I had a 290X Lightning and it hit 95C in seconds under load. May have been faulty. Either way it was promptly sent back and now I have a Kingpin

100% faulty, the Lightning is the coolest running out of all the 290s.

You may have had this problem
http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=61842/14.3+Drivers+Can+Cause+MSI+290.../

 

[Dicehunter]

100% faulty, The Lightning is the coolest running out of all the 290s.

You may have had this problem
http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=61842/14.3+Drivers+Can+Cause+MSI+290.../

If Physx worked on AMD cards and the Lightning wasn't yellow I would of gotten it.

And I know Physx isn't used in a lot of games but it is used in my favorite ones i.e The Batman Arkham Series and really looks amazing during the fog and smoke effects which I just drool over ^_^