R9 290X noise at idle? [tl;dr at the end]

[Semli]

Hello everyone,

have the usual dilemma that seems to be very common on these boards i.e. which card to get.

I have put together an attempt at a gaming system that will be quiet at idle when not gaming. I have a 1080P monitor for the time being with no intent to upgrade for several years although it certainly is possible that I will change my mind. I have a Fractal Design R5 (non-windowed) with one additional 140mm fan in the front and all drive cages removed for better airflow as I only have an SSD mounted in the space behind the motherboard. I am air cooled with a Scythe Kotetsu as Silent PC Review highly regards it as a quiet air cooler.

I was pretty set on getting the MSI Gaming GTX 970 due to the fact that the fans shut off under 60C but I am now considering getting the Sapphire R9 290X with 8GB RAM (or 390 perhaps) due to research into games using more memory with texture packs.

I haven't gamed in many months as I've been busy with work preparing for an exam I have to take next month but that's coming to an end soon and I will have a ton of free time to "waste" with games. Last game I played was Shadow of Mordor when it was released. That was on my AMD 6850 and actually ran reasonably well with settings turned down.

I do not play FPS or racing games at all. Interested in mostly RPGs such as Witcher 3, Dragon Age Inquisition, Skyrim, etc. Have never played GTA but thinking of giving it a shot.

Been reading about pros and cons for months and it's my understanding that modded Skyrim or Shadows of Mordor with high quality texture packs will use up all or more of the 3.5 GB VRAM on the 970 cards hence my considering the 8GB 290X. Future games will potentially be along the same lines.

Actual gaming performance at 1080P is similar or perhaps even the edge will go to the GTX 970 but I'm not too concerned about that as long as I can get a reasonably fluid game play at, or close to, 60 FPS for most games. Not concerned about the extra power consumption other than the potential for more heat requiring the fans to be on more; including system fans.

As I said, I may upgrade in the future to 1440P and the extra VRAM will be useful then. Of course, at that point there will be newer, better video cards out but if I can get by with my older card I don't see the point in getting a new display and graphics card. Money is not really an issue. I make a very good living. I just don't like wasting it. I've been relatively happy with my 6850 for gaming so I can see myself being okay with an older card with some settings turned down. I just felt like treating myself and a computer was cheaper than another watch.

Thanks for listening and any opinions.

***

tl;dr version

Want a 1080P gaming card that's quiet at idle. Considering Sapphire 290X with 8GB VRAM instead of GTX 970.

Thoughts on this including the potential to use MSI Afterburner or similar to set up custom fan curves?

Thanks!

 

[n0x1ous]

sapphire 290x (tri x or vapor x) are pretty quiet already i think. not sure you would need a custom fan profile. I would say the 290/290x are a better bet for the future than the 970 though.

 

[Semli]

Thanks for the reply. I saw some benchmarks on KitGuru showing that the 390 is a hair faster than the Sapphire 290X I was thinking of buying; or at least basically on par. Found that interesting since I would have thought that the X would be faster since my understanding is that the 390 and 390X are basically just refreshes of the 290 line with minimal improvements other than some overclocking.

Given that the 390 is cheaper, I think I may go that route.

 

[Azix]

Thanks for the reply. I saw some benchmarks on KitGuru showing that the 390 is a hair faster than the Sapphire 290X I was thinking of buying; or at least basically on par. Found that interesting since I would have thought that the X would be faster since my understanding is that the 390 and 390X are basically just refreshes of the 290 line with minimal improvements other than some overclocking.

Given that the 390 is cheaper, I think I may go that route.

might just be the new drivers that were used with the 390. Those were separate from the 290x drivers iirc.

Aftermarket cards are quiet and I hear the tri X is not noisy while gaming.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Tri x is an amazing cooler. It is however massive.

It saddens me to think that reviewers tearing the 290 and 290x apart actually have people thinking they would need a custom profile on an aftermarket 290x.

 

[krumme]

But is it possible on the 290(x) cards to set custom profile to turn fans off completely at idle?

 

[thilanliyan]

8GB is not really useful in a 290X is it?

 

[tential]

8GB is not really useful in a 290X is it?

8GB isn't a useful amount on any card. It's a luxury. 6GB is probably the MOST anyone is going to use right now and I'm doubting that you'll be able to get close to that limit (and I mean ACTUALLY USING THE LIMIT NOT JUST PRELOADING RESOURCES GUYS LEARN THE DIFFERENCE) and still have good performance. I think the only thing that makes the 390/390x nice though is that their crossfire performance allows them to use that performance to the full extent. Playing an old game and want to jack up the AA? No problems. Want to play Skyrim with tons of VRAM eating mods? No problem.

I think the 390/x with 8GB is OK given their competition. 390x vs the GTX 980, I take the 390x. Why? that VRAM, that Crossfire. The power consumption is irrelevant to me. I don't game at load 24/7. I game when I can if I'm lucky, an extra couple of dollars a year isn't something I worry about. The time people spend talking on this forum about power consumption would easily quintuple some users projected savings switching cards lol.

390x crossfire vs GTX 980 SLI? Crossfire will never have that VRAM problem. 4GB may be a problem for the GTX 980. 390x? just doesn't have a VRAM issue you jus tdon't worry about it. and that's on top of the great performance it already has.

Pretty crazy that AMD just kept Hawaii going like that vs Nvidia. That's cost effectiveness right there. Good for them. I hope the node shrink does well for us though.

 

[casiofx]

8GB is not really useful in a 290X is it?

8GB is useful for Hawaii simply for the fact that AMD aren't charging you extra for the extra 4GB of VRAM (I'm talking about MSRP cards).

the extra 4GB VRAM is useful to load up those huge texture sizes since the GPU performance hit for using bigger texture is very very little. Two games can take advantage of the bigger VRAM, Shadow of Mordor and COD AW.

 

[LTC8K6]

8GB is useful for Hawaii simply for the fact that AMD aren't charging you extra for the extra 4GB of VRAM (I'm talking about MSRP cards).

the extra 4GB VRAM is useful to load up those huge texture sizes since the GPU performance hit for using bigger texture is very very little. Two games can take advantage of the bigger VRAM, Shadow of Mordor and COD AW.

Well, 8gb of VRAM wasn't a big deal when it was on the 290X.

It didn't elevate the card any, iirc.

 

[casiofx]

Well, 8gb of VRAM wasn't a big deal when it was on the 290X.

It didn't elevate the card any, iirc.

Did you actually read and understand what I wrote?

I never mentioned the additional 4GB VRAM adds the performance of the card.

What I wrote is this:
1) AMD didn't charge extra for the extra 4GB VRAM. No premiums attached to the $329 R9 390 cards. I'm talking in terms of MSRP because that's the price reflected in the whole world's retailers.
2) For games that support big sized texture that exceeds 4GB VRAM, you can enable it for the 8GB R9 390. There's very little performance penalty of enabling it.

 

[TemjinGold]

FYI Newegg just put their Sapphire Tri-X 290X on sale for $260 AR. I'm kicking myself for upgrading a few weeks early but if you are thinking, I would grab that while I can.