VRM1 temperature spike with voltage increase

[wilds]

With the Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 overclocked to 1100 MHz core and 1500 MHz memory, the stock fan profile does a good job at keeping temperatures cool; with VRM1 temperatures hovering around 85c at prolonged load. I love how quiet it is.

To get a higher overclock, I need to increase voltage which causes a major temperature increase unless I use a louder fan profile. To get a really high overclock ~ 1250/1600, I need a much higher voltage to have stability. VRM1 temperatures spike and will cause throttling unless I have a high/loud fanspeed.

Would purchasing and applying thermal pad help in this scenario? I would love to push this card further while retaining a quiet profile. I know watercooling would be the best option, but the Tri-X cooler is really quiet!

 

[Kenmitch]

Most likely replacing the pad won't help. You could try it and see.

Your pushing the clocks beyond the coolers limit. Cranking the fan speed is the only option.

 

[Silverforce11]

1250 is really pushing it for R290/X, I find 1200 is better with less vcore required. There's very little returns for the huge spike in power use (thus VRMs working harder).

 

[chimaxi83]

Changing thermal pad won't do much, if anything. The VRMs have a tiny surface area, so improving the thermal interface on that small of a surface area will do little to nothing.

What might be helpful is making sure the heat sink isn't loose at all on the VRM side of the card. Other than that, not much else you can do.

 

[wilds]

I wish I could see the card in infrared because VRM2 and the GPU temperatures remain very cool. If a few of the VRMs on the right side of the card aren't properly cooled, then a DIY upgrade would provide me with higher clocks with the same fan speeds. That's what I am hoping for.

1250 MHz is definitely unrealistic for quiet speeds, but I definitely could see ending up around there if I get my headphones repaired.

 

[Attic]

Try mounting additional fan blowing air onto/around the back of the card on the area between power connectors and center of card.

 

[chimaxi83]

I wish I could see the card in infrared because VRM2 and the GPU temperatures remain very cool. If a few of the VRMs on the right side of the card aren't properly cooled, then a DIY upgrade would provide me with higher clocks with the same fan speeds. That's what I am hoping for.

1250 MHz is definitely unrealistic for quiet speeds, but I definitely could see ending up around there if I get my headphones repaired.

VRM1 is hot because of core over voltage. VRM2 is cool because of (I'm assuming) stock memory voltage. VRM2 ICs are on a completely different area of the card as well, and there is only 1 phase, compared to 6 for core.

 

[wilds]

I'll live with the clocks I have. The performance boost is hard to justify with loud noise. Attaching a small fan to the side of the card may be beneficial though.... Thanks for the responses!

Perhaps I'll look at watercooling for my next GPU to ensure good VRM temperatures.

 

[chimaxi83]

Watercooling is fun, my VRMs don't go above 65C

 

[wilds]

I added another fan to the case that is blowing air onto the side of the card. This has reduced VRM temperatures by 4C consistently while retaining a very quiet profile. Not as significant as I was hoping, but now I have more blue LED's on so it makes it look MUCH colder than before!

 

[Attic]

I added another fan to the case that is blowing air onto the side of the card. This has reduced VRM temperatures by 4C consistently while retaining a very quiet profile. Not as significant as I was hoping, but now I have more blue LED's on so it makes it look MUCH colder than before!

Awsome