Is it safe to buy AMD R290 now?

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by MTSeldon, Apr 17, 2014.

  1. MTSeldon

    MTSeldon Guest

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    GPU:
    Asus R 290 / 4Gb
    A few months ago , AMD R290 users were complaning about "black screen" issues. Possible a hardware error, forums ,newegg comments were full of negative comments.

    Is this still a issue? is it safe to buy a R290 now?
    I'm thinking about Sapphire 290 Vapor X.
     
  2. winningsince133

    winningsince133 Guest

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    GPU:
    XFX R9 290 Reference
    My reference 290 is fine

    Edit: if I had to guess te issues may be due to thermal throttling but, I set a custom fan profice that cuts down the temps
     
  3. AcidSnow

    AcidSnow Master Guru

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    GPU:
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    The only time my PC was ever giving me issues (in the beginning) was when my thermals went overboard, and the PC forced a shutdown to save the GPU. ...I've recently gotten a few BSOD in the past week, which kinda seem to have cropped up out of no where, and it appears to be my 290, but I haven't even been gaming! I'm in the process of figuring out if it's my RAM, or my 290. But then again, most of my PC is getting old, and was OC'd for a long time :\
     
  4. winningsince133

    winningsince133 Guest

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    GPU:
    XFX R9 290 Reference
    Do you have a reference 290? If you do, try using afterburner to make a custom fan profile to keep the temps down. It makes the reference card noisey but, I've gotten the temps down to ~82 underload. The only problem is that you can hear it on loading screens :L

    As for the OP, I haven't seen any Vapor X reviews as of now but I'd look for one and see what the temps & noise is. The lower the better.
     

  5. AcidSnow

    AcidSnow Master Guru

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    GPU:
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    Yeah I'm on reference, and am using afterburner (AB). But what annoys me is that when I first got the card - and if I did not have AB enabled, my card would always overheat; it's like CCC was just retarded.

    But then again, for some reason it's almost impossible to get my card over 65C. ...Even after 4hrs of BF4, the card almost never hits 70C. I don't know if the sensor is erroneous or whatever, but it's always been this way. It is a [used] press card though, which shouldn't make that much of a difference.
     
  6. foxgenco

    foxgenco Guest

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    GPU:
    Nvidia 1080 ti
    No, 300 series are coming...
     
  7. Fox2232

    Fox2232 Guest

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    GPU:
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    In 6 to 8 months is my guess. With performance/price very similar to what will be 290 at that time, therefore buying now, if OP considers performance sufficient is not bad idea at all.

    I consider AMD using best tech available to them like HBM. It would be nice to have it, but it will not come cheap.
    But it will improve performance/watt of entire card.
    Real performance/watt/price bump will come with 14/16nm not sooner. Here 28 vs 20 TSMC vs GloFo is very small difference.
     
  8. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    We don't have any real info about the upcoming 300 series.
     
  9. Fox2232

    Fox2232 Guest

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    That is very true. We know only which new technologies has AMD at hand and ready.

    HBM
    = considerably higher bandwidth compared to gddr5
    = lower power consumption
    = higher data density (more Mbit per mm^2)

    2.5D/3D stacking
    = possibility to make much bigger chips at lower costs. (low defect rate)
    = possibility to integrate 1st and last into one big chip under huge heatsink including HBM to make areas which generate less heat in between areas which make more heat.
    = possibility to use different manufacturing nodes as part of one chip.

    2.5D/3D stacking and people for it are available for AMD since Q3 2013.
    HBM is ready for some time too. And AMD should make bold and innovative moves if they want to increase their revenue.

    I can imagine not so big PCB with one big chip, considerable area used by efficient VRMs. This would be small and cool.
    But this is unlikely to happen this year in full extent. But I can dream, can't I?
     
  10. MTSeldon

    MTSeldon Guest

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    GPU:
    Asus R 290 / 4Gb
    I need a card now, i cant wait for 300 series . But i won't buy geforce 780 ti, price difference isnt worth for the performance gain and save money to upgrade later.

    Sapphire vapor x 290 looks like good candidate , isn't it?
     

  11. UZ7

    UZ7 Ancient Guru

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    If you can get the Vapor-X I would go ahead with it. It has one of the best fan coolers out right now. Its runs about 5C~ better than the Tri-X and overclocks pretty good. Custom vapor chamber cooler, custom chokes, custom pcb w/ 2x 8pin, back plate, vrm sinks, hybrid fans mode (keeps one fan on for silent/idle mode) etc..
     
  12. CPC_RedDawn

    CPC_RedDawn Ancient Guru

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    It has never been a problem, the chip is designed to operate at 95C at full load.

    AMD obviously tested it out in their test rigs, but I think what they did not take into account as much as they should of done is a lot of people have closed cases with pretty slow moving airflow around the GPU. A lot of people leave the stock case fans in their system, or buy cheap fans thinking its an upgrade.

    The R9 290 and 290X are great cards, they could of just spent a little more time on the stock cooler but I guess they needed it out as they had hyped them up too much and mantle was being hyped too they needed to follow up on it and get them out the door. If they had postponed them by another 3-6 months they would of lost a ton of money putting them back in the red again on their balance sheet.

    The R9 290 is where it is at though, the 290X does not perform that much better than the 290 to warrant the price increase. If you can get the 290X cheap or around £30-£50 more than the 290 then go for it. But the 290 will pump out less heat, draw less power, and be more suited to crossfire if you wish in the future.

    I am upgrading my GPU soon, I was going to go for a cheap second hand 7970 for crossfire, but I can't get over single GPU's they just perform and work so much better than dual GPU's do.

    I have my eye on the MSI 290 GAMING, it should give me a nice boost in performance and the 4GB framebuffer will help not to mention the MSI cooler is pretty awesome. That and it will fit perfectly with the rest of my rig.
     
  13. gerardfraser

    gerardfraser Guest

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    GPU:
    R9 290 Crossfire
    I also agree with this,some good advice there.Also the R9 290 cards can be picked up dirt cheap now.

    Although some people have had problem with R9 290 cards,not all people have had problems.I am one who has not had problem with single card or crossfire.
    I would love to get some of those 290 Vapor x cards also.

    I am running Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 and XFX r9 290 Reference card in crossfire and can tell you they are sweet,run great and cool and quite IMO for me.

    Small overclock and Crysis 3 run and this is what GPU-Z was reporting so not to bad for crossfire with a little overclock.

    [​IMG]

    R9 290 crossfire can even run this game pretty good.
    MAX setting with SMAA MGPU 2X
    [​IMG]
     
  14. winningsince133

    winningsince133 Guest

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    GPU:
    XFX R9 290 Reference
    I too have an XFX reference 290. Are you using afterburner to change the fan profile? If you could, I'd like to see your fan curve.
     
  15. gerardfraser

    gerardfraser Guest

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    Well I just started using Afterburer with AMD cards and here is the Fan curve I used when playing the Crysis 3 game.

    50% fan speed at 70C
    73% fan speed at 80C at these settings have not seen it at 80C when gaming.

    Core 1075
    MEM 1354 vary mild overclock,where gaming is very good at these clocks.

    [​IMG]
     

  16. automaticman

    automaticman Master Guru

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    GPU:
    R9 290 Vapor-X

    Agree the vapor-X is a great looking card. I was getting ready to pick up a Tri-X but might wait a bit now.
     
  17. winningsince133

    winningsince133 Guest

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    GPU:
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    Thanks, this seems to work very well.
     
  18. gerardfraser

    gerardfraser Guest

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    GPU:
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    Great,it may not be the best fan curve but worked for me with crossfire.

    You know what drives me nuts,people saying how bad reference cards are for the R9 290/x and I find this not to true at all.

    @op

    The R9 290 cards are cheap,fast and run great IMO.So you should be served great by any R9 290 card.

    My last couple runs in the same machine.Guess what setup was better LOL drives Nvidia guys crazy.

    Both xfire/sli overclocked GPU'S for some reason actual boost clock do not read correctly on 3dMark for both sides ATI/Nvidia all the time.

    R9 290 Crossfire run
    [​IMG]
    http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/2833578


    780Ti Sli run
    [​IMG]
    http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1809031
     
  19. automaticman

    automaticman Master Guru

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    GPU:
    R9 290 Vapor-X
    The main issue with the reference is all about temp and noise, and how it relates to the 290(x)'s performance. The reference cards run at 95c, are comparatively noisy while maintaining even that high temp - and are not able to maintain their highest clock speeds while doing so.

    Now, fine, it's a high performance card designed to run at its limits. But when as soon as companies are allowed to release cards with aftermarket cooling and they are able to maintain a 20c !! temperature advantage and with less noise (which instantly means maintaining the highest clocks is no longer an issue), that's when we know for sure that AMD dropped the ball on the reference cooler.

    The issue was never really that the cards weren't fast.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2014
  20. winningsince133

    winningsince133 Guest

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