Initial 290 xfire experience

[Silverforce11]

I can also confirm that a bunch of reviews that analyzed the thermal profile got it majorly wrong on one account: The vents on the top of the card near the rear exhaust do in fact spit out a LOT of heated air, I would guess ~1/3 of the heat is going out through there, and back into the case.

It is a poor design because that hot air ejected out hits the side panel, flow back and gets sucked into the blower again.. This would cause cases with poor airflow to have a spike in ambient and increase the chance of throttling. While its still better than open design that dump all the heat in the case, users who buy open design know this, expect it, and put good ventilation in their cases. People who buy blowers have an expectation that all the heat is dumped out.

 

[Jacky60]

Agreed, if its a noisy blower the least it should do is exhaust!

 

[Jacky60]

So far real World quicker than before and a lot more immersive. A parallel is going from 490 xfire to 5970/5870.

 

[SolMiester]

Thanks, in Arma 3 probably more like 45% but that means real world MP view distance is up with everything maxed (except PP blurring which is all 0) from 2500 to 4000M meaning can see and kill nme tanks in far distance which is the reason for upgrade. Heaven and Valley scores up from mid 60s on OC (920/1375) 6990s to 91/95 (stock 290) and to 105 and 107 with 1050/5500 OC. Not using VSync but will try it over weekend and will try Crysis 3 and buy a copy of BF4. Actually having watched some online MP games of BF4 I won't be buying it, seems I've grown out of sprinting and bunny hopping across a map as I find it incredibly tedious and unrewarding, sure signs of an aging gamer! GPU's climb to 75c in benchmarks but no-where near 90c so far. I should add I've a really well ventilated Xigamatek Elysium case with 3x230mm, 4x120mm, 1x140mm and 1x80mm case fans so airflow isn't a problem.

Im surprised you can hear yourself think!

 

[chimaxi83]

Im surprised you can hear yourself think!

What a helpful thread crap.

 

[3DVagabond]

What a helpful thread crap.

In all fairness, when someone posts 90dba spl, you can't accuse others of thread crapping by responding. You're taking it too seriously.

 

[Shmee]

Thread crapping, as well as member callouts, are not allowed. Back on topic please.

 

[guskline]

Jacky60, did you consider custom water cooling your new rig? Your Xigamatek Elysium case is a favorite of custom water coolers. It would sure help to tame the noise and heat!

 

[Jacky60]

Guskline I don't remember complaining about the noise or the heat. I really can't be bothered with water, it's not as silent as the grave but the noise is completely un-distracting I use speakers and can easily track people by sound alone at close range when gaming. I live on a relatively noisy street in central London not in the wilds of Nebraska so my PC is very little louder than the ambient noise level even though I have double glazing. Heat? That again is not a problem, my PC heats my man cave sufficiently well to mean I don't need the heating on and it stays around 21/22c in here (its a small room) and its cooler now than with the 6990's which is slightly annoying as I like to game in shorts. If its 30c outside in summer my room gets a bit too warm but few UK homes have AC because it gets above 25c about ten days a year if we're lucky so the extra heat just means I deploy a room fan.

 

[guskline]

Guskline I don't remember complaining about the noise or the heat. I really can't be bothered with water, it's not as silent as the grave but the noise is completely un-distracting I use speakers and can easily track people by sound alone at close range when gaming. I live on a relatively noisy street in central London not in the wilds of Nebraska so my PC is very little louder than the ambient noise level even though I have double glazing. Heat? That again is not a problem, my PC heats my man cave sufficiently well to mean I don't need the heating on and it stays around 21/22c in here (its a small room) and its cooler now than with the 6990's which is slightly annoying as I like to game in shorts. If its 30c outside in summer my room gets a bit too warm but few UK homes have AC because it gets above 25c about ten days a year if we're lucky so the extra heat just means I deploy a room fan.

I understand. Sounds like a great system. I use Logitech G35 headphones on all my rigs so the sound issue really isn't a factor. My point in mentioning water was more to the gpu cooling. There is an amazing difference in the temp of true water cooled cards with a full water block. Hey, if it keeps your man cave warn go for it.

Thanks again for your thread. It's good to hear the impressions of someone who has AND uses R9 290s in CF.

 

[Jacky60]

Tbh the cards really don't get very hot, ( 70's mostly never seen them above 80) pretty sure if they were mining or doing GPU benchmarks all day they would but now I get 35-60 fps (higher end usually) in Arma 3 whereas before with the B team rig as it's now called on same server same number of players I would be 10-15fps less. I haven't installed Crysis 3 or BF4 yet btw but I think I'll whack in BF3 tomorrow to see if I can remember a difference (the 'B' rig played it at 80-160fps as far as I can remember. What's really noticeable now in Arma 3 MP with 32 players on stratis is that with greater view distance 3250m vs 2500 (this is compared to same overclock on the 4770K (4.7GHZ) the 290s deliver really lethal FPS and smoothness in urban firefights so now I consistently win close range firefights against nme players or AI whereas with the two 6990's it was often 50:50 with fps or momentary hitch or something getting me killed. Once again my game is pretty enough to make yomping around Stratis a pleasure and quick enough that my deaths are not because my gun (aka my PC 'jammed') but because I fkd up. PS even if water cooled that heat would still be warming the room, as I was recently reminded the watts have to go somewhere!