XSPC Razor R9 290X

[3DVagabond]

There should be toxic, Matrix, and Lightning versions with custom PCB's.

 

[guskline]

Let me preface my comments by saying I have been almost all Nividia GPUs for awhile. Previously I had run a Radeon 5850 then jumped to a 6970. When the GTX 680 came out I opted for it instead of a 7970 and then bought two GTX670 FTWs and 2 GTX 660s.

I then moved into my first custom water cooled system. When the R9 290x/290s were released I thought then and think now these are the perfect cards to water cool. Under water they seem to have eliminated Nvidia's advantage. Sure the reference fan on the 290x/290 could be better. However, they are substantially less expensive than the Nvidia counter parts.

I tip my hat to AMD.

 

[Z15CAM]

Geez! Yesterday I was considering buying another R9 from Newegg.ca for a Reference ASUS R9 290X for $569 and expand my Water Build for Litecoin Mining. Today there is not a single R9 290/X available in Canada - Every Retailer reports Not Available or Out of Stock and prices indicate they will be well over $600 if and when they are.

It appears Crypto Mining has cornered the Market on these cards.

I wonder what's going to happen to Mantle and Gaming Entrepreneurs if the General Public can neither obtain nor afford these Cards. - Either way AMD will not loose.

What a an unexpected change in the AMD GPU Market or is it heading towards a Bubble Burst.

Apparently there is a Bitcoin ATM machine operational in Vancouver and news is these machines will be expanding to other locations.

I looked on eBay and saw numerous AMD cards selling for exorbitant prices with the captions in reference to Bitcoin Mining - Sish - This has to be ridiculous hype!

 

[Z15CAM]

I just updated my XSPC Razor R9 290X build by ordering 2 x's Noctua NF-A14 PWM 140mm Fans for the 280x30x140 Radiator and 2 x's Silverstone FF141B 140mm Fan Filters which I will use for the Back and Bottom Fractal 140mm case fans - ADD another $91 to $1,113.00 for a total of $1,204.00

13% Ontario HST and shipping is killing me - If your not taxed and get reasonable shipping you should be able to get away with just under $1200 with this build.

Now all I have to do is wait for the Parts - There will be a wait for the XSPC Razor R9 290X WB and Back plate as they are still on Back Order.

Just a little note on the side Regarding 280mm Rad Fan Spacing:

If you opt to use a 280x30(45 or 60)x140 rad be aware that the fan spacing come in 2 flavors; the STD 15mm spacing and the Corsair 20mm Spacing.

The Fractal is more apt for the 15mm spacing but as I am mounting the Rad, with a fabbed mounting bracket to the Front of this ARC Midi without the fans bolted to the Rad the Spacing is of no consequence.

The case will have 2 x's 280x30x140mm Rads and a total of 6 140mm Fans - 2 Fractal Case Fans / 2 Corsair 140mm PMW fans for the H110/ 2 Noctua 140 PMW fans for the XSPC Razor R9 290X.

I will have one unused loop left in reserve. If I develop problems with the Corsair H110 (Which has been Great so far) I will use the 2nd Koolance 401x2 reservoir to cool the i7 2700k or perhaps cool another XSPC Razor R9 290X in CF on it's own loop by stacking 2 x's 280x30x140 Rads in the Front but that's not in the budget ;o)

 

[3DVagabond]

I just updated my XSPC Razor R9 290X build by ordering 2 x's Noctua NF-A14 PWM 140mm Fans for the 280x30x140 Radiator and 2 x's Silverstone FF141B 140mm Fan Filters which I will use for the Back and Bottom Fractal 140mm case fans - ADD another $91 to $1,113.00 for a total of $1,204.00

13% Ontario HST and shipping is killing me - If your not taxed and get reasonable shipping you should be able to get away with just under $1200 with this build.

Now all I have to do is wait for the Parts - There will be a wait for the XSPC Razor R9 290X WB and Back plate as they are still on Back Order.

Just a little note on the side Regarding 280mm Rad Fan Spacing:

If you opt to use a 280x30(45 or 60)x140 rad be aware that the fan spacing come in 2 flavors; the STD 15mm spacing and the Corsair 20mm Spacing.

The Fractal is more apt for the 15mm spacing but as I am mounting the Rad, with a fabbed mounting bracket to the Front of this ARC Midi without the fans bolted to the Rad the Spacing is of no consequence.

The case will have 2 x's 280x30x140mm Rads and a total of 6 140mm Fans - 2 Fractal Case Fans / 2 Corsair 140mm PMW fans for the H110/ 2 Noctua 140 PMW fans for the XSPC Razor R9 290X.

I will have one unused loop left in reserve. If I develop problems with the Corsair H110 (Which has been Great so far) I will use the 2nd Koolance 401x2 reservoir to cool the i7 2700k or perhaps cool another XSPC Razor R9 290X in CF on it's own loop by stacking 2 x's 280x30x140 Rads in the Front but that's not in the budget ;o)

FWIU separate loops will do nothing. I would suggest getting rid of the H110 and getting a waterblock for your CPU. You have plenty of Rad with 2x 140*280 units to cool 2xHawaii and a CPU. The custom loop will be far superior to the H110.

 

[Z15CAM]

getting rid of the H110

You have a point but I'm rather pleased with that Corsair H110. My i7 2700K idles steady at 36C and working it hard at 5.7G's temps never go above 67C plus the noise isn't that bad when the fans ramp up.

I believe I made the right decision to purchase them 2 Noctia 140mm PMW's for the XSPC Razor WB.

I'll run it as planned and consider purchasing a CPU WB and another pump in the future. It will cost me another $160 if I elect to do so. Right now my wallet is hurting but eagerly waiting delivery and see if I can shoot down some of these Hi-Bench Scores posted by GTX780 Ti owners ;o)

PS:
I just bought 10 x's 6/12v 3mm Blue LED's with 6" soldered pigtails through eBay from Hong Kong - Total cost $3.88 including shipping - There`s something terribly wrong with our system.

Americans can save approx 20% compared to Canadians for a total of say $1000 on this XSPC Razor or EK-FC R9 290X build which equals about the same cost as a Titan and your into a 2 loop water cooling system.

 

[Slomo4shO]

The Gigabyte Windforce III should be coming soon

 

[3DVagabond]

The Gigabyte Windforce III should be coming soon

Great news. With the shortage of reference cards right now it can't come quick enough. Hopefully pricing will be reasonable.

 

[Slomo4shO]

Hopefully pricing will be reasonable.

Doesn't matter, retailers will continue to price gouge as long as demand is high.

 

[IEC]

Doesn't matter, retailers will continue to price gouge as long as demand is high.

Yup. Look at Newegg's $599.99 7970 GHz cards as proof...

 

[raghu78]

yeah retailers are making a killing by cashing on the mining craze. R9 290 cards are up now at $500. thats really disappointing. hopefully AMD improves supply situation.

 

[24601]

The Gigabyte Windforce III should be coming soon

Wouldn't trust the VRM cooling on most AIB cooled cards.

For a wattage monster like the 290/290x it matters quite alot.

When mine goes above 80c on the VRM, it starts getting unstable.

 

[Face2Face]

^ If this cooler is the same as th 280x's then the vrm cooling should be quite good. I would say better than most. The heatsink itself looks pretty stout and the support bracket on the back of the PCB ensures decent pressure. I wonder if they have some type of thermal pad on underside of the the back bracket to aid with cooling?

 

[24601]

^ If this cooler is the same as th 280x's then the vrm cooling should be quite good. I would say better than most. The heatsink itself looks pretty stout and the support bracket on the back of the PCB ensures decent pressure. I wonder if they have some type of thermal pad on underside of the the back bracket to aid with cooling?

Nothing they do on air with no full coverage baseplate will be as good as the reference cooler's cooling of the VRMs.

Perhaps they plan on remedying this by just using more VRMs to decrease individual VRM load and thus heat. Your picture shows approx 10 VRMs, while the reference is 6 VRMs I think.

Also worth noting is that judging by previous AMD/ATi behavior, the AIB cooled cards will be equipped by lower ASIC quality chips which will inherently draw more wattage and run at higher voltage. My reference chip is 70.1% and I have not seen mention of anyone with lower asic quality than 65% yet.

Hopefully this results in a wash, as the VRM cooling situation with the AIB cooled 7950/7970 has been just atrocious.

 

[Silverforce11]

Hopefully this results in a wash, as the VRM cooling situation with the AIB cooled 7950/7970 has been just atrocious.

Which AIB designs? Because I own PCS+, built rigs with WF3, TF, IceQx2 and VaporX cards and they had zero issues with huge OCs.

The ONLY AIB that failed big time was XFX with their horrible DD cooler.

 

[24601]

Which AIB designs? Because I own PCS+, built rigs with WF3, TF, IceQx2 and VaporX cards and they had zero issues with huge OCs.

The ONLY AIB that failed big time was XFX with their horrible DD cooler.

Which AIB do you work for again?

All the AIB equipped cooler's VRMs ran hotter than the reference cooled VRMs on the 7950/7970.

For the 290/290x this will matter for stability more than ever since the cards are on the very edge of PCI-express standards compliance. My cards run at 11.50v supply voltage because 8+6 pin is laughably under-provisioned for the 290/290x. A 8+8 pin (or 8+8+6 pin) will likely put the supply voltage at 11.84v or higher, making the actual v-droop on the VRMs lower correspondingly, leading to higher actual voltages delivered by the VRMs to the chips.

 

[Silverforce11]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2357606

Right here, a dinky VRM sink with GOOD pressure is all thats required. Simple thermal tape won't cut it, need screws or in this case, zip ties to apply downward pressure.

 

[Z15CAM]

I gotta question for you Guys and Gals - Do you think a single 280x30x140mm Rad with Noctua 140 PMW fans cool 2 x's R9 290X's in CF using a single Koolance pmp-400 pump or would I have to run 2 pumps in series and say a 280x45x140mm Rad?

I may be building a monster if I get a deal on this other R9 290X I'm looking at.

 

[24601]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2357606

Right here, a dinky VRM sink with GOOD pressure is all thats required. Simple thermal tape won't cut it, need screws or in this case, zip ties to apply downward pressure.

My testing method is a moderately shader intensive 100% load 24/7 at 100% stock boost clocks without allowing the clock to drop ever.

I take it none of the people doing the makeshift VRM cooling are using anything compared to the rigorous testing I do.

 

[Silverforce11]

I gotta question for you Guys and Gals - Do you think a single 280x30x140mm Rad with Noctua 140 PMW fans cool 2 x's R9 290X's in CF using a single Koolance pmp-400 pump or would I have to run 2 pumps in series and say a 280x45x140mm Rad?

I may be building a monster if I get a deal on this other R9 290X I'm looking at.

You are going to need more than a single 280mm rad for CF. One 240mm rad is minimum for 1 card. These "Mods" with AIO run a very hot loop but when you go custom water, you should be aiming for much better temps and thus, you need excessive radiator capacity for that.

I had planned on doing 1x 240mm rad + extra thick 120mm rad combo for my CF setup (all my case would fit, going with a slightly hot loop), but I managed to grab a few AIOs for dirt cheap so I'm going with "The Mod" approach.

 

[24601]

You are going to need more than a single 280mm rad for CF. One 240mm rad is minimum for 1 card. These "Mods" with AIO run a very hot loop but when you go custom water, you should be aiming for much better temps and thus, you need excessive radiator capacity for that.

I had planned on doing 1x 240mm rad + extra thick 120mm rad combo for my CF setup (all my case would fit, going with a slightly hot loop), but I managed to grab a few AIOs for dirt cheap so I'm going with "The Mod" approach.

The people using AIOs are also either using or planning to use higher pressure/higher CFM fans that are pretty loud.

If you plan on having a quiet loop then you will need more Radiator regardless.

 

[Z15CAM]

I note that my card idles at 11.88v and drops to 11.50 when the card is at full load. I thought that wasn't too bad considering an 1195/1500 +156mv clock.

 

[Z15CAM]

OK with 2 cards I'm looking at a 280x60x140 rad with 2 PMP-400 pumps in series running the cards parallel feed in a single loop - Right?

Gotta make up my mind before NCIX ship a Back Order product to me so I can change the order again - LOL.

 

[Silverforce11]

Why not throw in another radiator in there? No space?

 

[Z15CAM]

I've got a 280x30x140 rad in the top for the Corsair H110

Looking at a 60mm thick 280 Rad either a Black Ice SR1-280 Silent Revision 1 Dual 280MM 2-ROW or Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper 280mm - I will change out the 30mm thick rad for the 60mm in consideration of expansion.

The Koolance RP 401x2 can run 2 PMP-400 pumps separately, each with a reservoir for 2 loops or 2 pumps in series for 1 loop combining the reservoirs into one.

Yikes after I priced it out it's way over my budget for now - But I will be on the look out for another R9 290X if the price is right.

I must have had a High Fever there for awhile - LOL