Reference R9 290x refurb + Kraken G10

[railven]

Thanks for the update.

You going 980 Ti or waiting to see what Fury Nano brings? If it pushes prices, etc?

Yeah, after doing some research I've decided to go 980 Ti + Corsair H60 mounted with HG10 N980. For $680 I can't beat that. I just need the HG10 N980 to go on sale.

Allegedly, the Kraken H10 works on ref 980 Ti (I also have a Kraken H10) but of course I forgot none of my coolers work on it :/ Haha.

 

[B-Riz]

Yeah, after doing some research I've decided to go 980 Ti + Corsair H60 mounted with HG10 N980. For $680 I can't beat that. I just need the HG10 N980 to go on sale.

Allegedly, the Kraken H10 works on ref 980 Ti (I also have a Kraken H10) but of course I forgot none of my coolers work on it :/ Haha.

That is an impressive bracket.

Pray the OC gods bless you, and hit 1400+ on the 980 Ti.

You thinking of getting a 240mm / 280mm setup later on?

 

[Madpacket]

Well I added a Corsair HG10 to my ref XFX 290 yesterday and flashed the second BIOS to a 290X. All went well. Installation was straight forward and cooling is excellent. Considering this card paid for itself in BTC mining I wasn't too concerned dropping 100 CAD to make it cool and quiet.

Some pics for anyone interested.

Http://imgur.com/KiFLfmi
http://imgur.com/bJoNqHL
http://imgur.com/IEcUZPV
http://imgur.com/34Ft944

Temps while playing 64 player BF4 with everything cranked is around 55 degrees on the core and approx 75 on the VRM's. This is flipped over to the 290X BIOS.

I'll experiment with over clocking sometime this week.

Oh and wattages around 350 under load in BF4. Other components are AMD FX8300 at stock, 8 GB RAM, Sound Blaster Extreme Music, 480GB Intel SSD, 850W Seasonic Bronze, Gigabyte GA75LMT Motherboard all stuffed in a Corsair 200 mATX case.

 

[railven]

Well I added a Corsair HG10 to my ref XFX 290 yesterday and flashed the second BIOS to a 290X. All went well. Installation was straight forward and cooling is excellent. Considering this card paid for itself in BTC mining I wasn't too concerned dropping 100 CAD to make it cool and quiet.

Some pics for anyone interested.

Http://imgur.com/KiFLfmi
http://imgur.com/bJoNqHL
http://imgur.com/IEcUZPV
http://imgur.com/34Ft944

Temps while playing 64 player BF4 with everything cranked is around 55 degrees on the core and approx 75 on the VRM's. This is flipped over to the 290X BIOS.

I'll experiment with over clocking sometime this week.

Oh and wattages around 350 under load in BF4. Other components are AMD FX8300 at stock, 8 GB RAM, Sound Blaster Extreme Music, 480GB Intel SSD, 850W Seasonic Bronze, Gigabyte GA75LMT Motherboard all stuffed in a Corsair 200 mATX case.

Nice pics! I definitely love that red blower in that sexy Corsair frame. (I'm a Corsair fanboy ).

That poor sound card, haha. Nice upgrade and did you get full 290x from the flash? If so, nice! Decent card you got there. That stock blower was terrible.

 

[Madpacket]

Thanks. Yes full 290x unlock verified by GPU-Z. Didn't touch voltage's and still stable which is a good sign.

LoL that sound blaster is like 7 years old but I managed to stuff it in the PCI slot. I added some foam so the H60 tubing doesn't get scratched by the back of the sound blaster but it still works fine even bent the way it is.

Hoping to hit 1150 core and 1500 mem with no throttling.

Also looking at picking up the Asus MG279Q to go with this build but they jacked the price up almost 100 bucks since launch. Still 200 less than the G-Sync version though...

Tempting.

 

[railven]

Thanks. Yes full 290x unlock verified by GPU-Z. Didn't touch voltage's and still stable which is a good sign.

LoL that sound blaster is like 7 years old but I managed to stuff it in the PCI slot. I added some foam so the H60 tubing doesn't get scratched by the back of the sound blaster but it still works fine even bent the way it is.

Hoping to hit 1150 core and 1500 mem with no throttling.

Also looking at picking up the Asus MG279Q to go with this build but they jacked the price up almost 100 bucks since launch. Still 200 less than the G-Sync version though...

Tempting.

I was able to do 1175/1625 on both my 290Xs with fan @100% with no throttling. Not sure if that means anything for a flashed 290 to 290X, but you obviously have the better cooling setup. So, GL

At this point, wouldn't you be in the same boat just using the onboard audio?

 

[Headfoot]

My 290 does 1100 core with only +31mV and it's a very early 290. On water you should be able to push volts and get that thing up there

 

[Madpacket]

I was able to do 1175/1625 on both my 290Xs with fan @100% with no throttling. Not sure if that means anything for a flashed 290 to 290X, but you obviously have the better cooling setup. So, GL

At this point, wouldn't you be in the same boat just using the onboard audio?

1175/1625 is great, especially on air. Unfortunately my card has Elpedia mems so I doubt it'll go that far. My goal is to keep the VRM's under 100C so I'll add as much voltage as I can before I hit that and see where takes me. One advantage of the reference cards is the volterra VRM's, they are decent in that they allowed me to undervolt to keep things cool during the mining days.

As for the sound card, well this Gigabyte motherboard has a some cheap Via sound card built in and the X-FI has always sounded great to me plus Creative surprisingly has updated drivers for the card so that's why I opted to keep it installed. It's tight but seems to work fine.

I'm not terribly worried about the motherboard as it cost me under $20.00.

What's a good video card stress test these days? 3dmark still work or am I better off with something else?

 

[Madpacket]

My 290 does 1100 core with only +31mV and it's a very early 290. On water you should be able to push volts and get that thing up there

My card is of the first batch of 290's sold and IIRC did 1125Mhz with only a +25mV bump for mining so I'm hopeful for 1175.

I want to be within 75% +- 5% of the performance of the new Fury at 1440P. Maybe that's a bit optimistic, we'll see.

 

[B-Riz]

Well I added a Corsair HG10 to my ref XFX 290 yesterday and flashed the second BIOS to a 290X. All went well. Installation was straight forward and cooling is excellent. Considering this card paid for itself in BTC mining I wasn't too concerned dropping 100 CAD to make it cool and quiet.

Some pics for anyone interested.

Http://imgur.com/KiFLfmi
http://imgur.com/bJoNqHL
http://imgur.com/IEcUZPV
http://imgur.com/34Ft944

Temps while playing 64 player BF4 with everything cranked is around 55 degrees on the core and approx 75 on the VRM's. This is flipped over to the 290X BIOS.

I'll experiment with over clocking sometime this week.

Oh and wattages around 350 under load in BF4. Other components are AMD FX8300 at stock, 8 GB RAM, Sound Blaster Extreme Music, 480GB Intel SSD, 850W Seasonic Bronze, Gigabyte GA75LMT Motherboard all stuffed in a Corsair 200 mATX case.

:thumbsup: Nice Setup!

Is that 350 watts system draw using a Kill A Watt?

All, I ordered the GELID vrm stuffs yesterday morning, just got notice it was shipped today ( thanks Newegg :| )

So, maybe G10 OC goodness next week?

 

[Madpacket]

:thumbsup: Nice Setup!

Is that 350 watts system draw using a Kill A Watt?

All, I ordered the GELID vrm stuffs yesterday morning, just got notice it was shipped today ( thanks Newegg :| )

So, maybe G10 OC goodness next week?

Thanks. So you've ordered GELID VRM heatsinks to add to the HG10? I didn't think it was necessary as the HG10 already covers the VRM's. Just curious or am I missing something.

 

[B-Riz]

Thanks. So you've ordered GELID VRM heatsinks to add to the HG10? I didn't think it was necessary as the HG10 already covers the VRM's. Just curious or am I missing something.

Erm, I'm using the Kraken G10; the Newegg reviews of bent cards scared me away from the Corsair bracket.