XFX R9 290 DD Double Dissipation GPU Review

Great looking card - and nice review, but I have two pointers about it:

-We consider ourselves enthousiasts, aren't we? How can we buy a card that it's manufacturer doesn't even allow us changing thermal paste. XFX & MSI won't see a penny from me if they keep putting the silly stickers on the screws.

-Tom, stop being lazy and overclock the thing. Report the maximum overclock and the ASIC quality as well as the mem ic's used, for us to have an overall idea about the card. Pcb pictures would be welcomed too. I know those Hawaii card needs subambient for 1.2GHz stable, but it would be appreciated to know how close you we can get.

Keep up the good work & sorry if I came on too strong :D
 
I have an XFX 280x. It also has the same stickers over the screws. I contacted XFX about re-pasting and was told that the stickers may or may not apply depending on your location. I'm in Canada and was allowed to re-paste without messing with the warranty.

I do have a slight beef with the cooler. The VRAM and VRM portion of the cooler is a fairly anemic piece of metal. See here for the GPU portion of the cooler removed: http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3544/xa7wl2k5_jpg.htm

The raised parts and chrome parts in the photo (not mine btw, found it here: https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=16263.0) are all plastic. It's basically a few plastic bits screwed into the metal layer and had some sort of oil to help with heat transfer. I'm wondering if this is still the case on the 290?

I ended up doing some severe mods to get the VRM temps to where I was more comfortable. At max loads my mods drop VRM temps around 10C. Needless to say I won't be trying my luck on warranties.
 
Thelosouvlakia said:
Did anyone mention that XFX provides customers with Lifetime Warranty? :D
Click to expand...


Only two years warrantee here, which is a key reason why I'm not interested in XFX or Sapphire. I don't see the logic in shelling out $500+ on a card and not getting 3 years warrantee.

Edit: The Sapphire Tri-X goes foor $529 at the only shop I know of in Melbourne which carries it. The same shop also carries the XFX DD for For $439 on special. At that price I might not be so anal about getting a three year warrantee :D

They also carry the XFX DD Black Edition for $499, though I don't know the difference between that and the regular DD. Maybe slightly higher stock core clock.

------------

ccaution said:
Great looking card - and nice review, but I have two pointers about it:

-We consider ourselves enthousiasts, aren't we? How can we buy a card that it's manufacturer doesn't even allow us changing thermal paste. XFX & MSI won't see a penny from me if they keep putting the silly stickers on the screws.

-Tom, stop being lazy and overclock the thing. Report the maximum overclock and the ASIC quality as well as the mem ic's used, for us to have an overall idea about the card. Pcb pictures would be welcomed too. I know those Hawaii card needs subambient for 1.2GHz stable, but it would be appreciated to know how close you we can get.

Keep up the good work & sorry if I came on too strong :D
Click to expand...

I couldnt agree more. I would really like to know how well it overclocks.

I was unaware that XFX and MSI did this with the stickers. Do Asus or Gigabyte do it? What manufacturers allow you to change the TIM without voiding the warrantee?
 
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It varies by country. In the States XFX allows changing TIM and/or coolers without voiding the warranty. They'll even do it for you if you send the card and cooler to them. You would have to check with XFX to see what they allow in Australia.
 
This new DD design is really nice. Elegant, and has very nice lines. It would be perfect if it was a 290X and I would be on air...:)
 
Hmmm, just had a look at the price and it's €90 more than the GTX 760 I was (am) going to get. But it's soooo beautiful + that's a lot more power for games.

...even though I barely play games anymore and I wanted an Nivdia one for CUDA.

Decisions decisions... :(
 
Feronix said:
Hmmm, just had a look at the price and it's €90 more than the GTX 760 I was (am) going to get. But it's soooo beautiful + that's a lot more power for games.

...even though I barely play games anymore and I wanted an Nivdia one for CUDA.

Decisions decisions... :(
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If you want my opinion on the matter, those coolers aren't really that good for ITX builds so maybe you should look at the 280x version.
 
Found the full 290X over at scan for £395.15 Inc VAT-

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-...50mhz-2816-streams-1xdisplayport2xdvi-d1xhdmi


2322227-l-a.jpg
 
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barnsley said:
If you want my opinion on the matter, those coolers aren't really that good for ITX builds so maybe you should look at the 280x version.
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Sadly, that one has red rings on it. I wanted to get a GTX 760 ACX and customize the shit out of it :p Seems like it's still the best option style-wise, plus it gives me CUDA.

Sadly, that does mean getting a bit less gaming performance.
 
Feronix said:
Sadly, that one has red rings on it. I wanted to get a GTX 760 ACX and customize the shit out of it :p Seems like it's still the best option style-wise, plus it gives me CUDA.

Sadly, that does mean getting a bit less gaming performance.
Click to expand...

And not that much improvement over your 670 ;)
Honestly I'd try and get a blower type GPU if I was you. Then again it is quite expensive to get a good looking one so maybe not D:.
 
Feronix said:
Sadly, that one has red rings on it. I wanted to get a GTX 760 ACX and customize the shit out of it :p Seems like it's still the best option style-wise, plus it gives me CUDA.

Sadly, that does mean getting a bit less gaming performance.
Click to expand...

A LOT less gaming performance...... :p
 
Good to see that they have 290X version too...:) If i had to build a stelth design or suit like design pc I will know what to buy in it...:)
 
barnsley said:
And not that much improvement over your 670 ;)
Honestly I'd try and get a blower type GPU if I was you. Then again it is quite expensive to get a good looking one so maybe not D:.
Click to expand...

Actually it's a small step down but I'm probably just getting carried away by gaming benchmarks, even though I barely game anymore myself. The only title I'm still looking forward to is GTA V.

And ohwell, a GPU is easily replaced in the long run I guess.

For cooling it won't matter much. The shroud of the ACX cooler on the 760 is closed off at the bottom and top so air can only come out from the front and back. It's a mid-range card so it probably won't run that hot anyway.

To add to that, there will be a massive 230mm fan in the front directly in front of the GPU and a 120mm exhaust at the back. There are also 2x120mm fan holes in the top. I won't put any fans there but at least warm air can still passively exhaust out the top.

I guess I'm going with silence over temps on this one.

Dicehunter said:
A LOT less gaming performance...... :p
Click to expand...

I meant the 280x, but you're still probably right. Oh well, if GTA V runs on an xbox, it sure as hell should run on a GTX 760 at 1080p at medium-high settings.

Don't really think it's worth spending giving up on CUDA just for slightly better graphic settings in one game.
 
By your recommendation

I had to get one....

OVERCLOCKERS were doing this for under £289.99 with a free 60GB ssd and I know that's not a very big drive but it also came with HARIBO. I mean come on, HARIBO !!!!!! Haha

Other parts are arriving tomorrow, It's just under £800 build and I will take a nice few pictures when its built next week.

Also TOM, is the file size limit for pictures on the forum 1mg ???? I had to import this picture from my phone to photoshop to resize.

Thanks and much <3
 

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Yep I bit the bullet too and ordered a pair this morning, considering your getting 2 AMD gold reward codes, 2 60gb SSD's and a copy of Battlefield 4 in each and of coarse the HARIBO. When it's all said and done your getting about £150 worth of freebies. A Billy bargain if I ever saw one. Roll on tomorrow, an early night for me I think.
 
Can I ask a silly question? The PCB looks reference design... Is it? Can I get this card in a custom loop? Because the Reference cards are more expensive than this card in Greece
 
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