Asus R9 270 Memory Vram temperatures

[FilipePT]

I'm thinking of buying this card because I found it very cheap

But I read several reviews that it has no ventilation for the memories ram them and reach high temperatures.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_270_review,10.html

In this revision of to see this. The Vram are always in idle 54C this is not the normal temperature at idle.

In Load it reaches 72C

Down in the last graph it says hotspot card is 74C, someone explains to me what you mean this?

The conclusion is that the GPU is cool, but vrams get very hot in both idle and in load ... is this a problem? will affect the durability of the card?

Thanks.

 

[Soulkeeper]

If the vram or vrm gets hotter than the same components on other cards it likely means either the heatsinks don't touch those components or there isn't proper airflow in that particular design. That being said, 74C isn't necesarilly bad.

All that site is doing is evaluating the temperatures of the various components/areas on the video cards.

 

[FilipePT]

yes, that's the problem, there is no individual cooler or pad contact for the memories Rams.

the review of anandatech he relates that "Like the HIS 270, Asus's is card dual open air design fan. Based on a smaller version of Their DirectCU II cooler, Asus recommended for use a pair of heatpipes running from the Pitcairn GPU to the card's heatsink, Which overruns the PCB itself just slightly. baseplates There are not any secondary or heatsinks here, only cooling for the discrete electrical components and the chip RAM is provided via Solely airflow coming off of the card's fans.

The overall length of the Asus 270 is 9 ", of which roughly half an inch is the cooler overhanging the PCB. Despite the longer PCB Asus is not using any kind of other PCB stiffener or reinforcement here either, so even more so than the HIS card, Asus could use a little more protection against PCB bending. "
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7503/the-amd-radeon-r9-270x-270-review-feat-asus-his/3

Is this a problem? will affect the longevity of the card?

 

[Soulkeeper]

the non X versions can be seen as more budget oriented
It's not surprising that they would make a few concessions compared to the 270x or other higher end cards.

This said, I don't think having the memory uncovered will be a problem. Heatsinks on memory has never been a major concern, even for overclockers.

 

[FilipePT]

Yes it's true the version (not x) has cheaper materials.

I can also buy MSI R9 270 Gaming at least looks more robust and has a better cooler, but I never had msi boards, are better than asus?

the two R9 270, msi seems to look better

 

[Attic]

I've got both these boards.

Pros of the MSI is the bigger fans and overall beefier build. But there's a huge drawback to this, those fans are having MAJOR failure problems. Newegg reviews of the 270,270x,280x are pretty consistent with a number of folks having problems with the fans.

The Asus board is surprisingly small but it does an excellent job of cooling the gpu from my experience. A very quiet and i'd say silent card, which was a surpise to me. It's the coolest running of my 270's even though it requires a bit more vcore to run where I have the others.

Without the leaky and failing fans from MSI it'd be a tougher decision, but as it stands now i'd buy the Asus over MSI in a heartbeat.

 

[FilipePT]

seriously? msi fans are giving problems? but it is a hardware problem or drivers that can be corrected in the future?

The asus seem good at everything, has good temperatures of the GPU, but the only problem is that the memory Vram not have any cooling and can become very hot, upwards of 75C

 

[Attic]

seriously? msi fans are giving problems? but it is a hardware problem or drivers that can be corrected in the future?

The asus seem good at everything, has good temperatures of the GPU, but the only problem is that the memory Vram not have any cooling and can become very hot, upwards of 75C

Of the MSI boards I own with that cooling design, 25% of them have leaked/sprayed a fluid from the fans over the fan shroud and surrounding components. From what I read this is a precursor to the fans failing outright, but I haven't had any fans fail outright yet.

One of the related issues may be mining where the fans are put to use at very high speeds for extended duration so IMO it's possible the fans are much more likely to experience the failures noted when used for mining rather than for gaming, but the issue is still present and lurking.

The high temp of VRAM is a drawback, how severe i'm unsure but all I can say is that it hasn't led to or shown in instability issues from my limited experience. I believe all the Asus 270's use elpida memory modules rated for 1500mhz. A lot of folks prefer the hynixAFR modules if getting severe about performance, but at the 270 level it's a non issue IMO.

 

[FilipePT]

yes I see some complaints about the fans in the newegg site, but only in version R9 280x, the 270 has the same problem? you confirm?

The asus seems a very small card and the cooler is low range, which your load temperatures in the asus?

 

[Attic]

I can confirm the 270 has the same characteristics of fan issues as the 280x. The Heatsinks are very similar and the fans I believe are identical. Based on TDP, the 270 has a great heatsink, the 270x is exceptional, and the 280x is good. Perhaps the reason the issues are more noted on the 280x is that the fans need to spin faster there to cool a hotter more power hungry GPU and that the failures are highly correlated to the speed at which the fans run.

My load temps on the asus when mining are low 60C but that is with fans running 1100rpm's which is very low speed. I'm also undervolted which makes my results of limited to use to real world gaming scenarios.

Here's a good look at the Asus 270 and the His 270 regarding thermals and noise. A bit more limited than what you found at Guru3D though.

As for load noise, we can briefly see that he 270X isn’t going to be particularly impressive. Besides operating at a higher temperature than the GTX 760, it’s also louder. We really want to see at least some blower options for 270X, but AMD’s reference blower struggles with the task.

For the 270 cards on the other hand, the outcomes are mixed. The blower based GTX 660 for its part does rather well despite the handicap; the HIS card is actually marginally louder even though it’s open air. For this class of card the HIS is rather typical in cooling performance, but it means it’s in a crowd.

The Asus card meanwhile almost requires a new chart of its own just to put it in perspective. Asus has been impressing us lately with their DirectCU II coolers, and this is one example of why. 38.5dB is quieter than half of these cards at idle; that’s how quiet Asus’s 270 is. The HIS card can’t match it, and even the lower powered open air 5770 can’t match it. As far as open air coolers go, Asus is approaching the pinnacle of performance here, fully exploiting the advantage the design offers, and making their 270 significantly quieter than the GTX 660.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7503/the-amd-radeon-r9-270x-270-review-feat-asus-his/16

 

[redzo]

As long as the manufacturer guarantees stable operation during warranty, RAM temps are irrelevant. Of course that higher RAM temps may affect the OC potencial/even constant stability during stock, but any buyer should know what he paid for. There is no rule when it comes to chip quality.
My point is that you should not be concerned about the fact that the RAM chips feature no heat sinks. That is because the manufacturer decided that there is no use for them in order to achieve stable operation and also knowing that for them, screwing up an entire product is a financial burden. It is also perfectly normal for no heat sink chips to run at a lot higher temperature.
Some manufacturer may reduce cost when it comes to RAM cooling just because it knows that those chips can withstand higher temps. This is a simple example.
It is up to you to decide if the final product suits your needs. For example, I will always go for low noise operation even if that is achieved by a more expensive cooling system while sacrificing the RAM heat sinks. I will choose a GPU like this instead of one with heat sinked RAMS but a lot noisier for the same price.

 

[FilipePT]

I think you're right, my fear is the card die shortly after the warranty. I want a board with good longevity, because not always have money to buy a new card.

The Noise is not a big problem for me, is recommending alert the GPU Tweak software Asus, increase the speed of the fans to stay cooler?

 

[FilipePT]

I think the asus mistreated this r9 270, poor materials, cheaper cooler etc. ..
The asus r9 270x version is much more robust.

Right now I'm thinking lose a bit of performance and buy the gigabyte gtx 660 at a lower price

 

[3DVagabond]

72°-74° is not hot at all. Typically GDDR5 is spec'd for 100°C. Those temps are perfectly fine. OTOH, fans leaking their bearing lube is a very real concern.

 

[FilipePT]

temperatures are not very hot, but playing a 2 .. 3 hours can greatly increase.

but what worries me most is that the bottom of the page http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_270_review,10.html

"When we position the thermal camera outwards we can see that the hottest point is the actual located at the top of the card and not the exhaust, meaning residual heat is dumped directly in the PC."


Turns out all the heat inside the box

 

[3DVagabond]

temperatures are not very hot, but playing a 2 .. 3 hours can greatly increase.

but what worries me most is that the bottom of the page http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_270_review,10.html

"When we position the thermal camera outwards we can see that the hottest point is the actual located at the top of the card and not the exhaust, meaning residual heat is dumped directly in the PC."


Turns out all the heat inside the box

Most custom coolers do this. A blower like reference designs use is your best bet if you are concerned with heat expelled in to the case. Overall though, a 270 isn't going to put much heat into the case. Also RAM chips don't use a lot of power. There isn't that much actual heat being given off. Don't confuse the temp of the chip with the heat given off. All power used by a chip is converted to heat. If chip A is 50°C and chip B is 75°C but both are using the same amount of power, then both are generating the same heat. One just isn't being cooled as efficiently. I hope that makes sense.

 

[FilipePT]

hmm what you say makes sense, yet we know that a graphics card is the component that produces more heat on a desktop, in which case it will explir all inside, which will effectively increase the GPU temperature and remaining components, right?

In the summer with a 30C ambient room and the card to expel heat inside, must be very worrying, I think.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

hmm what you say makes sense, yet we know that a graphics card is the component that produces more heat on a desktop, in which case it will explir all inside, which will effectively increase the GPU temperature and remaining components, right?

In the summer with a 30C ambient room and the card to expel heat inside, must be very worrying, I think.

Not usually. The asus has all the pros and cons of an open air cooler. It does what it is supposed to do exceptionally. It is not cheap, nor is the memory a problem. It is probably the best 270 on the market, and should not have any problems that others do not have.

 

[FilipePT]

Apparently I'm not alone to think so.
A user review on this card on newegg site

• christopher m.
• 1/17/2014 12:30:40 AM
• Tech Level:
  
• Ownership:
  

OKCard

Pros: Cheap, Fast, Somewhat stable 430~450 kh/s if your interested in Hash Rates for mining purposes.

If you wana game, the 270 is probably your best bang for buck because it OC's to the speed of a 270x essentially very easily and its under 200$ and can play battlefield 4 pretty HIGH/ULTRA SETTINGS.

If you wana MINE COINS i would suggest getting a different card that has cooling for the ram as well, because I am certain this card wont last long without adding some kind of cooling solution to the ram.
Script mining is very gpu ram intensive and the ram IS going to heat up.
Cons: No ram cooling at all , drives me nuts when manufacturers are too cheap to add a quarter inch of aluminum sheet around the gpu to cover ram and cool that too... would of gladly payed 2$ more to cover the cost of the aluminum needed lol...................
Other Thoughts: I wouldn't get this for script mining if you plan to run it under extreme conditions (80c) in poorly ventilated environments would typically lead to ram failure on the card in short-order without proper ram cooling.
Maybe buy some cheap ram sinks and stick them on if they fit under the cooler , but the added cost would make it worth more to just buy a better card with better cooling that covers the ram as well.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

I can't prove it, but that card will not fail in normal usage for years.

 

[FilipePT]

I ended up buying the MSI R9 270 Gaming!

I hope to get lucky

 

[P39Airacobra]

So far the HIS model seems to be pretty solid, I have had it almost five months now and not one problem from the fans (knock on Wood) But HIS has always been known for good coolers. I did return a card thinking it was defective when it was just AMD's crap drivers, However I am glad I did it because my current card has Hynix V-Ram instead of Elpida like my first one, And with no V-Ram heatsinks it is much better to have Hynix instead of Elpida. Anyway I have had great performance since I got this card. So far I have not had to turn anything down except in Watch Dogs. I have to turn down Ultra textures to High because of the supposed 2GB and 3GB settings when it is just really bad coding from Ubisoft. Watch Dogs is honestly not that impressive, It is not a ugly game by any means but it should not require a 3GB $300 dollar powerhouse GPU to run it on ultra. A 650 Ti and ATI 7790 should be able to run it on Ultra. Anyway! The HIS model goes to 1050mhz without hardly any temperature change. (probably not any different than any other model) And it matches the X model's benchmarks at 1050mhz too. I have not tried to really push it in overclocking yet. I still have the I don't want to hurt a new card blues, And I also have really no need yet. I say this because I know most will not consider 1050mhz a overclock since it is basically the same as the X model. And I am sure almost every R9 270 owner has set theirs to 1050mhz in CCC. It is a no brainer after all.