choice between 2x r9 290 under water and 2x r9 290x 3rd party air

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
fleetadmiralfluttershy

fleetadmiralfluttershy

Reputable
Jul 19, 2014
7
0
4,510
Hello All,
I'll try not to be to wordy, so here we go. My budget for the gaming PC I'm building allows for me to get a full waterloop, waterblocks, etc. along with two reference r9 290s, OR two non reference(for thermal reasons obv.) r9 290Xs and no water, and I'm wondering which one is the better choice. According to my nooby mental calculations the fact that i most likely wont run into thermal throttling with the 290s under water SHOULD offset the (DISCLAIMER: the following is hearsay) ~5% performance boost of the 290 assuming no factory overclocks, and perhaps even outdo the 290Xs, so I'm leaning that way, but other peoples opinions are appreciated. The build I will most likely use (aside from the watercooling and graphics cards) is here btw.
 
Solution
coozie7
My poor little PC now feel so pathetic. ;)
Realistically the 'X' isn't worth the extra cash, it's faster, yes but not, when you look closely, fast enough to justify the price hike.
Don't like WC loops, too many things to go wrong for my tastes but I see the attraction, especially if it's well sorted, so if you can live with the complexities it's probably the best way to tame a pair of Hawaii cards and the better cooling SHOULD equate to a better OC or nice, low, quiet temperatures. Nice CPU cooler option as well BTW.

ALTERNATIVE IDEA: Feel free to ignore! ;)
Given the case has several aircraft propellers built in though, I'd look at a third option-dual R9 290s under air with the CPU rad externally mounted so it's not going to be...
Sort by date Sort by votes
J

jdcranke07

Honorable
Feb 10, 2014
1,346
2
11,965
I personally would go water cooled with the 290s since you can overclock if you wanted and have way more head room temp wise. There is not much of a difference at 1080 res performance between the 290 and the 290X on air coolers. However, two 290s OC'd under water cooled loop vs two 290Xs on air coolers will have a big difference in overall case temps and performance if overclocking sounds like a possibility. If you never plan to overclock then the two 290Xs will future proof more so, but not by much and your temps in your case will soar as those cards typically like to hover from 70-90'C under loads. (disclaimer: actual temps and performance vary depending on the game and application)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Datcu Alexandru

Honorable
Mar 19, 2013
131
0
10,710
Depends on case space. If you have the pcie lanes far enough apart (like 2 slot) and have good case airflow the 290x will do just fine. If i had the case space and airflow i would get like 2 saphire 290x with the vapor chamber (the blue ones with 8 gigs of vram). However if you are tight for space and/or airflow then go for the 290 with water however don't forget that water loops while they don't require maintance often when they do they can be a pain so be ready for that.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
fleetadmiralfluttershy

fleetadmiralfluttershy

Reputable
Jul 19, 2014
7
0
4,510
wouldn't PCIe lane spacing depend on the motherboard? Since I'm planning on using a phantom 630, i don't think that i'll be tight for space, especially if i wont have to mount radiators, but im not sure what the airflow on it is like...

EDIT: Derp, I misread that in a way that suggested that you were saying that the case somehow has an effect on the spacing of the graphics card slots. Yes I am using a two slot mobo, you think thermal throttling wont be an issue on the sapphire cards? Also, do you know what the noise on them is like by any chance?

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
fleetadmiralfluttershy

fleetadmiralfluttershy

Reputable
Jul 19, 2014
7
0
4,510
yeah, i was thinking of overclocking and the fact that could cause it to potentially beat out a 290x, the problem is the performance gained from overclocking is obviously variable, im still leaning towards water though, and thanks for the reply. Guess i'll have to put a bit more thought into this.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

jdcranke07

Honorable
Feb 10, 2014
1,346
2
11,965


I'm not really familiar with the sapphire cards; however, typically the smaller fans on the reference PCBs will be louder than per say the ones that are put into the ACX coolers on the EVGA GTX 780ti Classifieds. This is just because EVGA specifically put slightly bigger fans in these coolers to help quiet them down. Although if you water cool, your db's will be only as loud as your case fans and rad fans. Which if worked correctly in combination with radiators that have low FPI you could possibly be looking at fans that spin between 500RPM and 1200RPM, as long as, the fans are static pressure style fans you only need to have them setup in push or pull and not need a push/pull setup.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
coozie7

coozie7

Champion
Jun 2, 2007
10,015
10
59,215
My poor little PC now feel so pathetic. ;)
Realistically the 'X' isn't worth the extra cash, it's faster, yes but not, when you look closely, fast enough to justify the price hike.
Don't like WC loops, too many things to go wrong for my tastes but I see the attraction, especially if it's well sorted, so if you can live with the complexities it's probably the best way to tame a pair of Hawaii cards and the better cooling SHOULD equate to a better OC or nice, low, quiet temperatures. Nice CPU cooler option as well BTW.

ALTERNATIVE IDEA: Feel free to ignore! ;)
Given the case has several aircraft propellers built in though, I'd look at a third option-dual R9 290s under air with the CPU rad externally mounted so it's not going to be effected by the GPU heat.
All the major players now sell cards with vastly superior coolers the reference object and I particularly like the look of the XFX DD design even though the Sapphire Tri-x is the better cooler it looks, well, tasteless in comparison.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom