MSI R9 290 gaming 4G(twin frozr) VS Sapphire R9 290 TRI-X OC BF4 edition?????

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I own a TwinFrozr r9 290 and the card is great so far. Playing games like Witcher 2, FC3. COD:Ghosts all on max 60 fps no problem. Temps at full load is typically at 65-67c and this is with my case fans running 50% and ac turned off in a tropical climate. Build quality is awesome and the card comes with a backplate so thats a plus.

Generally though you can't go wrong with the Twinfrozr or Tri-X. Both are great cards from reliable companies. Really I would go with whichever is cheaper.
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Jak_Sparra

Jak_Sparra

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Hi,
I have not used the Msi twin frozr version of the card. But I do own the Sapphire R9 290 Tri-x and it's awesome. Max temp with GPU running at 100% (during about 4 hours of constant testing with Uningine Valley and Heaven and ARMA 3) was 74 degrees. At that temp the fans run at 40% of their top speed and are very quiet. I could hear the CPU fans (Coolmaster V8) but not the card and my PC is right next to my right leg under my pc desk, so close that my leg often touches it. I have 3 displays running from it; 1080p, 1920x1200, and a 50" Panasonic plasma 1080p TV. So it is 2 x Dvi cables and one HDMI cable. There was no problems setting it up with extended desk top for these monitors. I have also been playing a lot of BF4 and it is so smooth on Ultra setting with FOV switched up to 100 on the 1920x1200 display that it a joy to play.
 
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thdarkshadow

thdarkshadow

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T4Gx

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I own a TwinFrozr r9 290 and the card is great so far. Playing games like Witcher 2, FC3. COD:Ghosts all on max 60 fps no problem. Temps at full load is typically at 65-67c and this is with my case fans running 50% and ac turned off in a tropical climate. Build quality is awesome and the card comes with a backplate so thats a plus.

Generally though you can't go wrong with the Twinfrozr or Tri-X. Both are great cards from reliable companies. Really I would go with whichever is cheaper.
 
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fruiten2

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I personally find the MSI one look much better, but the sapphire one has BF4 included with it.
AND your TEMPS are awesome!! that's uber great for a R9 290.

my AMD only favorite graphics card company is Sapphire
my Nvidia only favorite graphics card company is EVGA
and for Amd and Nvidia i'll chose MSI.

I still can't decide can you also post some frame rates at BF4.

Thanks for the answers of all so far.

 
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T4Gx

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^^ Played a quick 38 man TDM match on Paracel Storm. Ultra settings but 2xMSAA I get mostly 65-75fps but sometimes drops to 55-59. Temps are at a typical 65-67c. No overclocking was done.

Rest of my build:
i5 3570 non-k
z87-a
750w psu
8gb ram
 
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fruiten2

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Ok is this on 1440P?

because you should get a bit higher on 1080p on 2xmsaa, or you must be playing with a higher resolution scale then 100%.

But thanks for the answer i'll hope i get the R9 290 for my birthday. Right now i'm using a HD7970
and if i get an R9 290 i'll put the 7970 in my recently built second PC.

See you on the battlefield :p
 
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GrooperDude

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Listen i have 2 MSI 290x Twin Frozr cards and mine regularly hit the peak 95* limit. whats REALLY annoying is that i did the reserach and went ahead and sold off my reference 290x then bought 2 MSI twin frozr OCd edition 290x cards because the cooling was supposed to be superb. NO IT IS NOT. is it just my cards??? thermal past bad? or what?
 
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Jak_Sparra

Jak_Sparra

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I don't know. But you can try putting a 120mm fan on your case pulling air from the outside directly onto and between the length of the cards. I think with crossfire that maybe they are so close together it is causing some heat build up or something. I had to use this method with my old 5870HD's in crossfire.
 
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GrooperDude

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Thats the issue though :/... i justdropped 150$ on a new CASE Corsair 500R with 2 140MM Cougar fans. and there was absolutely no temperature difference! its beyond upsetting :(
I have a total of 8 fans. 2 140s on the side directly over the GPU / 2 front/ 2 top/ 1 bottom / 1 back

 
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Jak_Sparra

Jak_Sparra

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I feel for you bro, nothing worse then spending big money and then finding out you have been lied to by a manufacturer. Is it to late to send them back? Also, do you have the case in a small room or cupboard or something, I don;t think your cards should be generating the max amount of heat unless the room ambient temp is high.

One other thing, I'm not sure but a 140 mm fan may not produce as much air pressure as a 120mm fan. (Looking at a picture of your case, it looks like a 200mm fan?) You want a high air pressure and speed so the out side air is blowing directly between both the cards and forcing cooler air in there. A lower pressure fan will take air into the case but barely push it any further. So although you should not have to spend a penny more you may have to invest in a higher then normal pressure fan.

Also the 2 fans at the front of the case should be be pulling in plenty of air, are they definitely working? On my Coolmaster HAF case I didn't realize the front fan was not working until I'd been using the case for about 4 months!

Try a smoke test, use an incense stick or something and what where the smoke goes, you may spot 'dead' areas where there is no air movement. Ideally you want smoke matches:- http://www.screwfix.com/p/smoke-matches-tub-of-75/64177
They create a lot of visible smoke. If you have any friends that are gasmen then they might have a spare.

One other thing, if you are getting frame rates of a minimum of 70 try limiting your FPS, like if you are using a 60Hz monitor then switch on V-sync so you get smooth game play AND then your cards are not heating up vreating extra frames you will never see. On warthunder I get about 200fps, but I use a 60Hz monitor and switched on V-sync (I chose the variable optiion) and I get a much smother experience then at 200+ fps!

 
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Jak_Sparra

Jak_Sparra

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Also get MSI Afterburner, it has a fan speed/temp curve chart that you can adjust. (Make sure MSI have not released any bios updates for your card 1st). Once you have MSI afterburner find the curve chart and change the curve so that the fans ramp up speed at a lower temperature and that this change is reflected across the entire curve. When I had 5870s I found by default they would rather let the cards overheat before they let the fan go over 40%!!! Might have been fine for none crossfire but for crossfire the extra heat they share in such close proximity can really mess things up. I made it so the idle temp only had the fans at low speed but had it quickly ramp up fan speed to about 40% at around 75degrees instead of 90degrees that was the default then had a steep curve after that so the fans would always get to 70% before the temp got to 90degrees. It was louder but I play games with high volume so was not an issue at all. I never had the fans go to 100% as it was just a bit too loud and they never needed cooling that much.
 
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GrooperDude

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i have MSi After burner and already set the manual fan thing. at 67* the fans hit 100%. they are actually pretty quiet in my opinion. i mean, i am comparing the noise to the reference 290x card i had before these 2 Twin Frozr cards... but at 100% i can barely hear them. my front fns are working. and yes what you see in the 500R pics is a 200MM fan. i replaced it with TWO 140mm Cougar High pressure fans. i spent 37$ on those 2 fans......
i contacted MSI support and am going to see what all i can do. because this is just messed up..
 
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Jak_Sparra

Jak_Sparra

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I hope they get back to you soon with a solution. If I was you I would stick as many and truthful/damning reviews of the cards wherever you can and then keep forwarding the links to MSI. I have resorted to such things before and have had a swift and decisive response.

Please keep us up to date with events, so we can make an informed choice on which companies tell lies & rip off their customers.

 
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GrooperDude

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Can do :) ill keep yall and reddit posted on the progress.. i REALLY hope we can find a way to fix this temperature problem.. i just wanted a gaming system that is reliable.. im sick of spending more and more money on this damn PC. i love building it and working on it.. but the Work has to STOP at some point!
 
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Jak_Sparra

Jak_Sparra

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I agree! In the mean time, I think there are a few people with problems with certain cards in an dual/triple card setup. That thin gap between the cards is the problem, I think it creates is own pressure wave of air and so stops any new fresh air from outside the case getting to it. It's like a smooth shield layer of hot air. You need to find a way to 'inject' fresh air into that tiny pocket. I'm 99% sure if you make a cone of thin card and put the wide end round one of your side fans and put the 3mm thin end right into the gap between the cards this will actually disrupt the 'cushion' of warm air enough to fix the problem. It's a $1 cheap dirty attempt at a fix. But if it works then you will be inspired.

-edit-

with further thinking. i'm 100% sure I'm right. So you know what I have in my mind here is a smaller example easy to make. Get the card bit of a toilet roll and squash one end down so its flat with only a 2-3mm height but it might be quite wide. then push that thin end about 2mm into the gap between the cards. Obviously the untouched end of the tube is not big enough to take all the air from the fan. It will be easy to add paper or card so you can tape it to the case fan. Then effectively you are 'feeding' the top card with it's entire supply of fresh cool air!!!
 
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GrooperDude

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woah woah woah. that sounds like an insanely good idea. please explain a little further how to do what youre picturing
 
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GrooperDude

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okay yeah i get what you mean. I have some updates. MSI customer support never got back with me about my issues. but i took out one of my MSI 290X cards because i have only 1 42in. 720p screen that runs at 60hz. now with one of the cards out i can actually overclock the 1 card in the case at 1070mhz and memory clocked at 1400mhz with no heat issues. the top heat is 74*! which is amazing! so now i have a brand new MSI Twin Frozr card just sitting in static proof pakaging on my corner dresser waiting for me until i get a triple screen 1440 setup.
Ihave been looking at many many many monitors and TVs.... i want 1 TV and 2 monitors... i think. because the moniutor size maxxed out at 27inches... which is a little small for me. so ill have a 39in tv in the middle and 2 27in monitorsw on the side.. maybe... i dont know. there are soooo many options out there its hard to choose what i want :/ i want everything at 120hz for sure. i know there are, TN, IPS and VA monitors. TN has shitty colors but fast response time. IPS is great colors bad response time and VA is in the middle but they are really expensive :/. any help in that department by chance>? im looking to buy this TV first ( Seiki SE39UY04 39-Inch 4K 120Hz LED TV )
 
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Serkan Durgun

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I'd go with a single 4k display which is capable of running @60hz via DP. But either way you should research r9 290/x CFX problems before spending that much money on a new set of displays. I heard it persists in either on 4k and Eyefinity.
 
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