http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...rcolor-devil-13-r9-290x-dual-core-review.html
Conclusion
PowerColor took a relatively large risk when creating their R9 290X Devil 13. Due to the extreme heat produced by AMDs Hawaii XT cores, many thought water cooling was an absolute necessity and thats the route AMD eventually went with their excellent R9 295X2. Those beliefs were proven wrong throughout our review but a number of fears associated with heat buildup did end up being somewhat justified. The Devil 13 certainly isnt a slam dunk but its good enough to possibly entice power users to take a long, hard look at what PowerColor is offering.
Performance will be front and center with a card like this and make no mistake about it, PowerColor has delivered in spades. From 1600P to 4K resolutions, the Devil 13 is able to go toe to toe against some of the best, most expensive dual card solutions around. When given the small GDDR5 frequency bump it becomes the fastest graphics card currently available, though by the narrowest of margins. More importantly, even with an air cooler backstopping this show, thermal throttling never became a concern.
Temperatures did however factor into this equation since it takes a titanic effort to bring them under control. While the Devil 13s default fan speed setting is quieter than the calamitous racket put up by a pair of reference R9 290X cards, when its Turbo setting is selected, things quickly degenerate. Thats a shame since theres really no reason for PowerColors additional mode; it doesnt grant the card one iota more performance.
Unlike NVIDIAs Boost, AMDs PowerTune algorithm doesnt have the capability to take advantage of additional thermal overhead so the Devil 13s core sits at 1GHz while the fans arbitrarily try to disperse heat that isnt even there. Sure its great to see sub-75°C temperatures from an air cooled dual R9 290X card but whats the point if power limits still step into the path of overclocking?
The standard mode is really the way to go here. It offers exactly what PowerColor was hoping to achieve: great performance out of a dual R9 290X card without having to resort to water cooling. This really is impressive considering theres still a good amount of overhead before AMDs thermal limits would begin throttling clock speeds. We just wish PowerColor had included their own software fan speed controls so RPMs could be aligned with temperature and users would be allowed to sacrifice a few degrees for a quieter gaming experience. Ironically, this was exactly the same observation we made of the HD 7990 Devil 13 nearly two years ago and nothings changed since then.
With all of that being said, the Devil 13 can be considered a novelty rather than an effort that will draw in many gamers. It is a rare specimen which has an outstanding design and it claimed the mantle as todays most powerful graphics card. Bragging rights never looked so good. However, small form factor situations are effectively impossible due to the prodigious being heat dumped into the Devil 13s immediate vicinity and the triple slot height makes mounting a challenge.
When overall cost is factored into the equation, the sane solution would be to save a few hundred bucks with dual individual custom cooled R9 290X cards or two GTX 780 Tis rather than go the Devils $1400 route. However, weve all got a little devil on our left shoulder that doesnt care about sane, rational decisions. This is the card to satisfy that irrational call. For anyone that wants to ignore the voice of proper reasoning and go straight for some the best performance money can buy, PowerColors Devil 13 fits the bill perfectly.
Conclusion
PowerColor took a relatively large risk when creating their R9 290X Devil 13. Due to the extreme heat produced by AMDs Hawaii XT cores, many thought water cooling was an absolute necessity and thats the route AMD eventually went with their excellent R9 295X2. Those beliefs were proven wrong throughout our review but a number of fears associated with heat buildup did end up being somewhat justified. The Devil 13 certainly isnt a slam dunk but its good enough to possibly entice power users to take a long, hard look at what PowerColor is offering.
Performance will be front and center with a card like this and make no mistake about it, PowerColor has delivered in spades. From 1600P to 4K resolutions, the Devil 13 is able to go toe to toe against some of the best, most expensive dual card solutions around. When given the small GDDR5 frequency bump it becomes the fastest graphics card currently available, though by the narrowest of margins. More importantly, even with an air cooler backstopping this show, thermal throttling never became a concern.
Temperatures did however factor into this equation since it takes a titanic effort to bring them under control. While the Devil 13s default fan speed setting is quieter than the calamitous racket put up by a pair of reference R9 290X cards, when its Turbo setting is selected, things quickly degenerate. Thats a shame since theres really no reason for PowerColors additional mode; it doesnt grant the card one iota more performance.
Unlike NVIDIAs Boost, AMDs PowerTune algorithm doesnt have the capability to take advantage of additional thermal overhead so the Devil 13s core sits at 1GHz while the fans arbitrarily try to disperse heat that isnt even there. Sure its great to see sub-75°C temperatures from an air cooled dual R9 290X card but whats the point if power limits still step into the path of overclocking?
The standard mode is really the way to go here. It offers exactly what PowerColor was hoping to achieve: great performance out of a dual R9 290X card without having to resort to water cooling. This really is impressive considering theres still a good amount of overhead before AMDs thermal limits would begin throttling clock speeds. We just wish PowerColor had included their own software fan speed controls so RPMs could be aligned with temperature and users would be allowed to sacrifice a few degrees for a quieter gaming experience. Ironically, this was exactly the same observation we made of the HD 7990 Devil 13 nearly two years ago and nothings changed since then.
With all of that being said, the Devil 13 can be considered a novelty rather than an effort that will draw in many gamers. It is a rare specimen which has an outstanding design and it claimed the mantle as todays most powerful graphics card. Bragging rights never looked so good. However, small form factor situations are effectively impossible due to the prodigious being heat dumped into the Devil 13s immediate vicinity and the triple slot height makes mounting a challenge.
When overall cost is factored into the equation, the sane solution would be to save a few hundred bucks with dual individual custom cooled R9 290X cards or two GTX 780 Tis rather than go the Devils $1400 route. However, weve all got a little devil on our left shoulder that doesnt care about sane, rational decisions. This is the card to satisfy that irrational call. For anyone that wants to ignore the voice of proper reasoning and go straight for some the best performance money can buy, PowerColors Devil 13 fits the bill perfectly.
Facebook
Twitter