How loud is the 290 w/o Overclock?

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LiquidAurum

LiquidAurum

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Jun 2, 2013
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I've been hearing that the 290 makes the 290x pointless. But also hearing that both cards are very loud. I assume that's talking about overclocking. If not I guess I could buy a liquid coolant for the card.

Which brings me to my second question. Do they make liquid coolants just for cards? If so what would be a good one to get for 280x/290. and is it safe? Always been wary of liquid being near my PC
Thanks in advance

 
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Mouldread
OC does mean overclocked. It's factory done so you don't have to worry about it. They have tested the GPU and made sure it will work at higher clock speeds than the reference card. It doesn't void your warranty or anything like that. If you insist you can use the software that comes with the card to underclock it but I don't see a point in doing so.

The difference between the 2 cards are that they are clocked to different speeds and have different coolers.

The more expensive one has :

GPU 1030 MHz Core Clock
Video Memory 5600 MHz Effective

and the cheaper one:

GPU 1000 MHz Core Clock
Video Memory 5200 MHz Effective

To be honest you won't see more than 1-2 frames per second difference between both out of the box.
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hapkido

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290X isn't pointless, it's just that the 290 performs nearly as well and is significantly cheaper.

The reference coolers are reportedly very loud on each at stock settings. I would expect the 3rd party coolers to not only perform better but be quieter. If you want to know specifics, it's probably best to check the individual cards.

For water cooling, your only options are building a custom loop or using something like NZXT Kraken to attach a closed loop CPU liquid cooler.
 
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LiquidAurum

LiquidAurum

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for those 3rd party coolers, are they just fans?

Liquid cooling is expensive. If you're saying 3rd party fans will be better and will work fine I'll stick with that I guess. Is it difficult to install? And any specific product you recommend good for the price? If you have good priced liquid cooling that'd be nice too.


Thanks
 
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Mouldread

Mouldread

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Hey,

the noise level would depend on what brand card you are buying. Most manufacturers like MSI, Asus, Evga etc. use aftermarket coolers. You will have to check for a review for the specific card you want to buy. There are plenty of reputable websites which publish extensive reviews including power consumption and noise levels of the cards. Like this http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_review_benchmarks,13.html for example. In general avoid buying reference cards as their "stock cooler" is noisier and doesn't keep the card as cool as aftermarket coolers.

About installing a liquid cooler on the GPU - yes, it could be done, and yes there are special ones designed for specific cards but the price is too high to justify buying one. You would be better off buying 1 tier better card than buying a slower card and installing a water cooler. For example a GTX 770 + water cooler would cost the same if you bought a GTX 780.

 
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Mouldread

Mouldread

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Sapphire has been a popular choice for a while now, here you can see review of this specific card. http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-r9-290-tri-x-oc-review-1600p-ultra-hd-4k/
 
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LiquidAurum

LiquidAurum

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Ok last question (for now). The sapphire card says OC at the end, does that mean it is by default OC? Can you turn that off? Because me personally I refuse to OC.

Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X OC

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%2050001315%2050001669%2050001312%2050001561%20600473877&IsNodeId=1&Description=r9%20290&bop=And&CompareItemList=48%7C14-202-080%5E14-202-080-Z08%2C14-202-103%5E14-202-103-TS&percm=14-202-080%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B14-202-103%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

And what's the difference between these two?
 
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Mouldread

Mouldread

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OC does mean overclocked. It's factory done so you don't have to worry about it. They have tested the GPU and made sure it will work at higher clock speeds than the reference card. It doesn't void your warranty or anything like that. If you insist you can use the software that comes with the card to underclock it but I don't see a point in doing so.

The difference between the 2 cards are that they are clocked to different speeds and have different coolers.

The more expensive one has :

GPU 1030 MHz Core Clock
Video Memory 5600 MHz Effective

and the cheaper one:

GPU 1000 MHz Core Clock
Video Memory 5200 MHz Effective

To be honest you won't see more than 1-2 frames per second difference between both out of the box.
 
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