How noisy is the R9 290X compared to the 780 / 780Ti?

[vbuggy]

... when run Crossfire.

I'm comparing dual Titans and 780's for my new gaming rig - these were GPU's I already had - but since I'll be running NVSurround or EyeFinity (if I go the AMD route) I was wondering a) if the performance advantage would be worth buying two new cards and b) how much impact it would have in terms of noise in idle, since I am a total noisenik - and two cards is the maximum I'm willing to go in a compromise of power vs noise.

I note that the R9 290X eats significantly more power across the board than even the Titan, so I'm guessing it has to dump more heat always. Just wondered if someone who has used all three setups could provide some sort of comparison.

Thanks

 

[Carfax83]

Idle

Load

Looks pretty damn noisy to me. Of course, you can always get an aftermarket cooler though..

 

[thilanliyan]

Wait for non-reference cards I guess if you go the 290x route.

 

[vbuggy]

Hmmm. You have to manually put it into Uber mode as well, right? Dang that's noisy. I'll give it a miss then

 

[Slomo4shO]

Either wait for the non-reference models, replace the cooler with an aftermarket cooker, or go under water. There is no reason to pickup a 290X if you plan on using the stock cooler.

 

[Attic]

Edit: thing is with either setup you could set max fan levels to limit noise, but with the 290x you get 4gb's and extreme performanceto go with ultra resolutions. It would then become a game of tweaking fan level relative to performance, but I think you could find a happy medium there at between 2000rpms and 2500rmps and still get incredible performance with the extra VRAM needed for ultra hd resolutions. So maybe in some situations with adjusted fan settings you get 80% of 2x780ti performance with the 2x290x, but get equa or lower noise levels. In situations where vram is an issue the 2x290x is a winner even when lowering performance through fan adjustments.

Case ventalition would be critical to evaluate as well. Either SLI or xFire will be noisy compared to single cards, so some trade offs are needed.

 

[Attic]

Regariding VRAM concerns on the 780ti SLI for ultra resolution gaming.

From Guru3d's conclusion of their 780ti review.

Final Words & Conclusion

Playing games with GeForce GTX 780 Ti is pretty, could very much be in refernce with Aerosmith's Sweet Emotion. The response and feel you get from two of these puppies in SLI is just amazing. I'm inclined to say though that NVIDIA really should have gone for a 6GB model, that or a mixed GDDR5 version with 4 GB as in Ultra HD you'll be running into graphics memory limitations real fast if you use say 4x MSAA. And as you have been able to see, overall up-to WQHD (2560x1440) NVIDIA SLI is mostly the faster option, however in UHD (3840x2160) the competition is cacthing up real fast and even overtaking. Considering that the regular R9 290 sells at 349 EUR / 399 USD it'll be a tough nut to crack for NVIDIA. I do expect to see the regular GTX 780 drop in price even further. Nvidia has two massive benefits though, it's a cooler product and it is more silent, read that carefully... more silent, not silent. Nvidia is a notch ahead compared to AMDs frame pacing solution. But in all fairness AMD is evolving rapidly thanks to that XDMA Crossfire interface on the 290/290X and even UHD shows fairly little latency issues at 3840x3160.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gtx_780_ti_sli_geforce_review,24.html

 

[exar333]

Idle

Load

Looks pretty damn noisy to me. Of course, you can always get an aftermarket cooler though..

An old point of reference:

Radeon 9700Pro = 64db
Geforce FX 5800 = 74db

Show's how modern cooling has improved a good amount, even when we are dealing with 2-3x the power usage.

 

[Pandora's Box]

really? the 9700 pro was 64db? I don't remember it being that loud. From what I recall the x1800XT was loud though. 68db.

 

[exar333]

really? the 9700 pro was 64db? I don't remember it being that loud. From what I recall the x1800XT was loud though. 68db.

Yeah, at similar fan speeds as the 290x 'Uber' mode. It definitely could run a lot more silent though, but it was pretty loud with a high fan-profile.

 

[Aithos]

If noise is a concern then you don't want to consider a reference 290x, in CF you're talking about nearly double the "real world" sound difference. DB don't scale evenly so the higher you get the more each point represents. Also, with the reference 290x if you don't run in "uber" mode you throttle incredibly quickly and it's even worse with two due to double the heat. The 780 and 780ti do a much better job even with reference cooling for noise and temperature. I went with two of the latter for SLI (showing up tommorrow!!) and I'm not even the slightest bit worried that I made the wrong choice.

Edit: Forgot to mention, everyone is making a much bigger deal out of the VRAM than it is. If 3GB was really too little NVIDIA would have put 6GB on there, but the fact is that 4k gaming is still a long way off. Even then, once you get to that resolution you don't need 4xMSAA because it's largely redundant anyway. There comes a point where the pixel density vs distance is indistinguishable and we are quickly approaching it already. 1440p 120hz isn't even a reality (outside of overclocking) and that will be the next "big" thing for gaming when it finally becomes reasonable to accomplish at a normal price point. I'm not the least bit concerned about 3GB of VRAM, by the time it matters it will be time to upgrade anyway.

 

[Silverforce11]

Don't touch the reference R290/X at all if you are sensitive to noise, thats the bottom line.

There's a poll on this forum, most people are waiting for custom models to show up. It will eliminate the noise & heat issue while using less power due to running cooler. End of November is the ETA. I am impatiently waiting to pull my trigger on an R290..

Every day that goes by, an EK or Aquacool waterblock on an R290 running at >1.2ghz looks more and more tempting.

Even IF you don't want the R290 and prefer NV, its best to wait, because once custom models hit I strongly suspect NV will drop prices on the 780 and 780ti lineup. So NV users will benefit too.

 

[DooKey]

Overclocked to the max Titans in SLI are not as loud/noticeable as overclocked to the max 290s in CF.

I should know since I owned Titans and now own 290s. If noise/performance are important to you then grab 780/780ti.

 

[blackened23]

Yeah, at similar fan speeds as the 290x 'Uber' mode. It definitely could run a lot more silent though, but it was pretty loud with a high fan-profile.

Huh? What? This is the 9700 pro:

I distinctly remember video cards being fairly silent back in those days - the 9700 was well before the TDP race got underway. None of the GPUs back from that era required exotic cooling or super high fan speeds that I recall.

 

[amenx]

^ yeah, what I was going to say. The fans were too tiny and moved little air to be noisy for those old cards. They would probably need to be at 10,000 rpm to make noise.

 

[toyota]

^ yeah, what I was going to say. The fans were too tiny and moved little air to be noisy for those old cards. They would probably need to be at 10,000 rpm to make noise.

some of those small fans were VERY loud. I had a 7600gt that was so loud it was driving me crazy and it went right back to the store. it was more annoying than the gtx470 I later used because it was super whiny.

 

[Silverforce11]

Huh? What? This is the 9700 pro:

I distinctly remember video cards being fairly silent back in those days - the 9700 was well before the TDP race got underway. None of the GPUs back from that era required exotic cooling or super high fan speeds that I recall.

Its those tiny fans at super RPM that was the cause of noisy cards in the old days.. I had a blower 800XT which got much louder than the blower in my 5850 and 7970.

 

[amenx]

some of those small fans were VERY loud. I had a 7600gt that was so loud it was driving me crazy and it went right back to the store. it was more annoying than the gtx470 I later used because it was super whiny.

Dont recall noise to have been an issue with me with the cards from that period. Had a 7900gt that was whisper quiet during gaming. Not to say you're particular card wasnt noisy as you say, but I dont even think reviews even measured noise back then.

 

[amenx]

Its those tiny fans at super RPM that was the cause of noisy cards in the old days.. I had a blower 800XT which got much louder than the blower in my 5850 and 7970.

Odd. Cards back then had very low TDP vs todays cards. The didnt need super cooling or super high speed fans to do their job.

 

[SolMiester]

Edit: thing is with either setup you could set max fan levels to limit noise, but with the 290x you get 4gb's and extreme performanceto go with ultra resolutions. It would then become a game of tweaking fan level relative to performance, but I think you could find a happy medium there at between 2000rpms and 2500rmps and still get incredible performance with the extra VRAM needed for ultra hd resolutions. So maybe in some situations with adjusted fan settings you get 80% of 2x780ti performance with the 2x290x, but get equa or lower noise levels. In situations where vram is an issue the 2x290x is a winner even when lowering performance through fan adjustments.

Case ventalition would be critical to evaluate as well. Either SLI or xFire will be noisy compared to single cards, so some trade offs are needed.

2db difference between single and dual Ti's....there are no games yet that struggle with 2GB in surround, let alone 3gb, so calling the 4gb a bonus is stretching it IMO.
Dont mean to be rude, but your post comes across as a desperate sales pitch. Do you have a vested interest in such a post to make the 290x seem a better option?

 

[IEC]

Noisy is relative. If you're like me and have been building silent or near silent PCs for years, any reference cooler is out the window, and any "upgraded" stock HSF is still terribly inadequate.

Most people will be happy with the cards with upgraded factory cooling solutions such as ASUS' DirectCU II, Gigabyte's Windforce, MSI's Twin Frozr etc. Bigger cooling fans at lower RPMs = better for noise, in general.

Wait until the end of November for a 290X with a custom cooler and you will be happy.

 

[Silverforce11]

Odd. Cards back then had very low TDP vs todays cards. The didnt need super cooling or super high speed fans to do their job.

Back then the cards were also much shorter and most were single slot solutions as well, this meant a tiny heatsink the thickness of the typical ram/vrm sinks, and tiny blower fans running at insane RPM.

 

[nurturedhate]

This noise issue is a tad overblown. Look. These cards are no louder than essentially last gen's top cards. Granted, if you like quiet, you like quiet. But for most people who were using reference cards from basically forever this is a standard noise level, even the 290x's uber mode... 290(x) compared to 780(ti) there is a difference, it's just not grand canyon wide like people make it out to be. Would still and am waiting for aftermarket solutions for 290(x).

 

[vbuggy]

Not seeing any non-reference cards on the shops I use so far by the way.

But in either case, with the significantly increased power requirement isn't any solution going to be noisier than the equivalent NVIDIA with an aftermarket cooler?

Both the 780 and the 780Ti I have in to eval now are the ACX twin coolers, and I don't see any non-reference solutions going beyond the likes of the DirectCU II type of solution - which I would demand anyway on an NVIDIA card.

This might be moot down the road as I'm not quite getting the results I want out of even the Titan SLI, so I might have to go Tri-SLI... in which case I would probably have to WC and sweat the details to keep the noise under control. This is kind of a level of build commitment I wasn't prepared for, and I *might* end up either dumping the build and buying a pre-built WC rig, or handing it over to someone who can WC it to my satisfaction. In which case, I might elect to go with a 3-way 290X instead. But I still want to continue looking at an air cooled solution with manageable levels of noise for a noisenik, and may decide to downgrade the monitors instead for example.

Huh? What? This is the 9700 pro:

I distinctly remember video cards being fairly silent back in those days - the 9700 was well before the TDP race got underway. None of the GPUs back from that era required exotic cooling or super high fan speeds that I recall.

Try one now vs e.g. a Titan. You'd be surprised. The tiny fans like the above and impellers like you'd find on e.g. a 7900 a few years back produces a surprising volume of whiny noise.

 

[Kenmitch]

This might be moot down the road as I'm not quite getting the results I want out of even the Titan SLI, so I might have to go Tri-SLI... in which case I would probably have to WC and sweat the details to keep the noise under control. This is kind of a level of build commitment I wasn't prepared for, and I *might* end up either dumping the build and buying a pre-built WC rig, or handing it over to someone who can WC it to my satisfaction. In which case, I might elect to go with a 3-way 290X instead. But I still want to continue looking at an air cooled solution with manageable levels of noise for a noisenik, and may decide to downgrade the monitors instead for example.

If you have a local dealer that sells XFX 290's you could always cherry pick the Rev P.0's if available. They all unlock to 290x's as far as I've seen. You'd pretty much get the same performance and water blocks for free with the savings.