[OC3D.NET + Guru3D] MSI R9 290X Lightning Review

[el etro]

TDP have not increased as stated by Guru3D torture test.






Tri-Frozr cooler is a Monster:

 

[Face2Face]

^ Agreed. I am on my low res work laptop, but does that say 64c MAX on the vrm when overclocked? If so, that's an achievement on it's own.

 

[el etro]

^ Agreed. I am on my low res work laptop, but does that say 64c MAX on the vrm when overclocked? If so, that's an achievement on it's own.

Yes. Fan profile is still at default.



This card will hurt WC/Accelero sales

 

[Elfear]

^ Agreed. I am on my low res work laptop, but does that say 64c MAX on the vrm when overclocked? If so, that's an achievement on it's own.

That is very impressive, just like the 780 Lightning. Built like a tank.

I also noticed in the Guru3D article they put the power phases at 15+3+2 instead of 12+3+2 from their original news piece. They need to pump some volts into that thing and see if the more robust power circuitry helps or not.

 

[Face2Face]

That is very impressive, just like the 780 Lightning. Built like a tank.

I also noticed in the Guru3D article they put the power phases at 15+3+2 instead of 12+3+2 from their original news piece. They need to pump some volts into that thing and see if the more robust power circuitry helps or not.

Yes sir. Not sure what to say on the phases, I counted 12 GPU phases, but the MSI slides say 10. Also, from the slides.. :thumbsup:
1400Mhz @ 1.4v This R9 290X would be a monster. You buying one Elfear?

 

[wand3r3r]

Wow, I want to see a showdown at 1.4 GHz vs the 780/ti at 1.4 GHz.

 

[Pandora's Box]

I know these things will overclock more underwater but looking at the overclock benchmark results from Guru3D - I'm not impressed. Hardly an increase in performance (5%). At-least one not worth the price difference this card will have over a stock 290X.

 

[rtsurfer]

As much as I want this card right now, I wouldn't buy it till it is conformed that it is truly Power / Voltage unlocked.

A 1.25 Volt limit like the 780 Lightning will make this thing useless & not worth the premium over a reference card.

 

[rtsurfer]

Finally hits newegg:

$750

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127787



IMO it is not really worth $200 over the reference card.

Edit: Also up for Ncix pre-order

$100 more

http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=94957&vpn=R9 290X LIGHTNING&manufacture=MSI

 

[wand3r3r]

Gouge-egg doesn't have any 290x's for MSRP so it's early to tell the actual premium that MSI has put on it. It seems to be $0-100 more then the alternative custom 290x's but none match it in quality IMO.

Has the MSRP even been published yet.

 

[24601]

I'm so tempted to buy one :O

750 USD + possibly no need to water-cool :O

I'll have to think about whether or not to sell one of my 290's to get one.

I'll have to see if anyone knows if they loosened the memory timings to get the overclocks though, since I would need the timings tight for mining, and I doubt TheStilt will make any more bioses.

 

[Elfear]

Yes sir. Not sure what to say on the phases, I counted 12 GPU phases, but the MSI slides say 10. Also, from the slides.. :thumbsup:
1400Mhz @ 1.4v This R9 290X would be a monster.

That would be one fast card especially with the Hynix ram MSI is using. Hopefully someone can get us some Lightning vs Lightning benches as wand3r3r suggested.

You buying one Elfear?

I'd love to mess around with one but I'll probably stick to my 290s for now. Although that would be worth almost 1Mh/s...

 

[IEC]

Oooh... shiny.

I'll wait until the price inevitably caves though as the cryptocoin bubble is slowly deflating and its only a matter of time before the market is flooded with cards.

Summer... is coming

 

[Attic]

That would be one fast card especially with the Hynix ram MSI is using. Hopefully someone can get us some Lightning vs Lightning benches as wand3r3r suggested.

Yes, this please. My money on the 290x when both opened up to the MAX.


Damnit, now i'm itching to go overboard with 290x xfire and new CPU,... but I won't.

Yet.

Seriously, once that itch takes root, you're screwed. New friggen spectacular cards always stoke it.

 

[24601]

Yes, this please. My money on the 290x when both opened up to the MAX.


Damnit, now i'm itching to go overboard with 290x xfire and new CPU,... but I won't.

Yet.

Seriously, once that itch takes root, you're screwed. New friggen spectacular cards always stoke it.

Waiting for Haswell-E or Skylake? (And Maxwell / Pirate Islands)

 

[Face2Face]

That would be one fast card especially with the Hynix ram MSI is using. Hopefully someone can get us some Lightning vs Lightning benches as wand3r3r suggested.


I'd love to mess around with one but I'll probably stick to my 290s for now. Although that would be worth almost 1Mh/s...

Pretty sure this is going to be a mining beast looking at the memory clocks. Not sure about the memory timing? but as RTsurfer has shown, the Samsung vs. Hynix timing is more FUD than anything. If I had some decent memory on my card I would compete, but sadly I would need more than 1500MHz on the core to beat a 1400MHz R9 290X...

It's actually BF4 stable with 1.4v @ 1500MHz and the temps are pretty dang good for the setup. Vrm temps stay below 70c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmK3ChEctaQ

 

[rtsurfer]

Gibbo @ Overclockers UK

Also the first SINGLE GPU card I have achieved 1000 hash with:-

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25962064&postcount=40

 

[Face2Face]

Gibbo @ Overclockers UK



http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25962064&postcount=40

Very nice :thumbsup:

This is the GEM of the Hawaii cards without a doubt.... Gotta pay to play... :$

 

[rtsurfer]

Very nice :thumbsup:

This is the GEM of the Hawaii cards without a doubt.... Gotta pay to play... :$

Looks like you missed the locked voltage part.

Apparently they are trying to get us +200 mv over stock.

Keyword here is 'Trying'.

 

[Elfear]

It's actually BF4 stable with 1.4v @ 1500MHz and the temps are pretty dang good for the setup. Vrm temps stay below 70c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmK3ChEctaQ

That card is a beast! I was never brave enough to take it to 1.4V on air but it looks like it responded very well to better cooling.

 

[Face2Face]

Looks like you missed the locked voltage part.

Apparently they are trying to get us +200 mv over stock.

Keyword here is 'Trying'.

Man you're right, I missed that... I'm sure someone will find a way to add more, if MSI doesn't pull through.

That card is a beast! I was never brave enough to take it to 1.4V on air but it looks like it responded very well to better cooling.

I'm pretty sure with a full cover waterblock and 1.5v this card could hit 1600MHz.. I had it up in the 1550MHz range running valley then it locked up a little more than half-way through the run. My current cooling can't handle that much voltage as temps were climbing.

 

[24601]

Samsung GDDR5 is speced to tighter timings.

The reason MSI is seeing less OC with Samsung GDDR5 compared to Hynix GDDR5 is obviously because they loosened the timings to try to hit high memory clocks.

This is because the absolutely atrocious IMC on Hawaii has no where near the capability to run errorlessly with Samsung's actual suggested timings.

Don't believe me? Ask TheStilt.

 

[rtsurfer]

Samsung GDDR5 is speced to tighter timings.

The reason MSI is seeing less OC with Samsung GDDR5 compared to Hynix GDDR5 is obviously because they loosened the timings to try to hit high memory clocks.

This is because the absolutely atrocious IMC on Hawaii has no where near the capability to run errorlessly with Samsung's actual suggested timings.

Don't believe me? Ask TheStilt.

Actually I would like to.

Where can I find him..??

My testing has shown that there is basically no difference in one of the most memory dependant benchmark a.k.a Valley.

 

[24601]

If the memory is even running errorlessly at or over 1500 mhz then they loosened the timings period.

The IMC on Hawaii fails miserably over about 1425 mhz at actual Samsung timings which is what TheStilt sets with his bios mod.

Just a head's up, TheStilt is the persona for the AMD/ATi engineers assigned to memory latency and/or BIOS management.

This thread details the entire reasoning, etc.

It gets pretty technical, so watch out.

https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=12830.0

 

[rtsurfer]

If the memory is even running errorlessly at or over 1500 mhz then they loosened the timings period.

The IMC on Hawaii fails miserably over about 1425 mhz at actual Samsung timings which is what TheStilt sets with his bios mod.

Just a head's up, TheStilt is the persona for the AMD/ATi engineers assigned to memory latency and/or BIOS management.

This thread details the entire reasoning, etc.

It gets pretty technical, so watch out.

https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=12830.0

I dont know about AMD side but I can prove that atleast on the 780 there is no difference between Hynix & Samsung.

I guess we have to get TheStilt's input on 290x lightning.

Although Gibbo @ Overclockers UK had Samsung memory on his Lightning.

Maybe someone who buys the lightning here & also owns a Reference 290x can do the same comparisions as I did so we can have some Idea.

Edit :- Thanks for linking the thread.
Looks like I'll have some interesting reading times ahead.