Sapphire R9 290 tri-x edition stable overclock?

[Doubleugee]

Hello all, I have recently sold my two Sapphire HD7950 GPU's and bought the Sapphire R9 290 tri-x edition card. I have to say that this card is very quiet. After playing several rounds of Battlefield 4 (on the mantle drivers) it feels realy smooth as butter. Compared to the crossfire setup with the two Hd7950 this is a big improvement.

Now the question is the overclocking part. Reading several articles on the well known sites on this subject i notice a lot of difference in what can be achieved. So my question is: Is there any one of you who has experience in getting a stable overclock on this r9 290 tri-x. De defaults are:

1000mhz on the core ande 1300mhz on the memory.

Tanx in advance.

 

[RobCrezz]

Its going to be different with every chip. I suggest incremental changes then a run of a benchmark to test.

I also refer you to this thread (unigine valley benchmark thread) as there are a few guys with 290x with overclocks, plus it can be a good way for you to compare your cards performance with theirs:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/393368-33-unigine-valley-benchmark-thread

 

[Doubleugee]

Ok tanx! I check that link out.

 

[Doubleugee]

The only question is, is this unigine valley tester running mantle?

 

[RobCrezz]

No, it uses directx.

 

[Doubleugee]

No, it uses directx.

ok , I did some reading today and I think I know what to do to get it properly overclocked. My target is 1200 on the gpu and 1650 on the memory. I post my findings.

 

[Doubleugee]

Yesterday evening I have tested with overclocking my new R9 290. I have added 30% in the AMD catalyst control center and tweaked the gpu core clock to 1130 and the memory clock to 1550. At first I set the core clock to 1200 (+50% power), but that ended in a crash. So I started experimenting and my system now runs perfect withe the 1130/1550 and +30% power.

After this OC I have played battlefield 4 for over 2,5 hours on 1080p @144hz, Ultra settings(resolution scale at 135%, msaa off and anti aliassing post off (on Mantle). avg FPS between 90 and 160 depending on the map and the number of players.

I think this is pretty nice!

 

[RobCrezz]

Cool. Have you run Unigine Valley before and after to compare your scores?

 

[Doubleugee]

Cool. Have you run Unigine Valley before and after to compare your scores?

Unfortunately I did not have time to run the benchmark. I will when I have the time. But it will not represent my FPS in battlefield 4, because this runs on Mantle. But it will say something about performance gain with the overclock.

So, to be continued....

 

[RobCrezz]

Cool. Have you run Unigine Valley before and after to compare your scores?

Unfortunately I did not have time to run the benchmark. I will when I have the time. But it will not represent my FPS in battlefield 4, because this runs on Mantle. But it will say something about performance gain with the overclock.

So, to be continued....

That is true, but its good to compare before/after scores so you can see what improvements you have made. Plus 99% of games out here on pc run on directx, not mantle.

 

[Doubleugee]

Cool. Have you run Unigine Valley before and after to compare your scores?

Unfortunately I did not have time to run the benchmark. I will when I have the time. But it will not represent my FPS in battlefield 4, because this runs on Mantle. But it will say something about performance gain with the overclock.

So, to be continued....

That is true, but its good to compare before/after scores so you can see what improvements you have made. Plus 99% of games out here on pc run on directx, not mantle.

You are right there. The only game I play is Battlefield and nothing else. So for me personally I do not care about other games so far. But for the community I will benchmark my setup with Unigine Valley and post my findings.

 

[Pranjal619]

what are your vddc offset settings and which tool you used for oc.
I also have the same card and oc via tri x utility

 

[Doubleugee]

what are your vddc offset settings and which tool you used for oc.
I also have the same card and oc via tri x utility

I have managed to get it stable at 1110 on the core and 1365 on the memory with an vddc offset of 125. BF4 runs smooth like hell 120+ fps.

 

[Pranjal619]

what are your vddc offset settings and which tool you used for oc.
I also have the same card and oc via tri x utility

I have managed to get it stable at 1110 on the core and 1365 on the memory with an vddc offset of 125. BF4 runs smooth like hell 120+ fps.

*I get 1120mhz core clock and 1500mhz mem. clock with vddc offset 100 and power limit 100.

*got 55 to 185 fps on bf 4
seen a little flicker while running heaven 1920 x 1080
but with a great score

*I prefer you to run unigine heaven once yo insure stabilty
and no artifacts which will help you to oc more and keep good life time.
*always run osd via msi ab to keep a check on temp as 80*
c or above may reduce huge lifetime and >95*c will destroy.

 

[The_Icon]

what are your vddc offset settings and which tool you used for oc.
I also have the same card and oc via tri x utility

I have managed to get it stable at 1110 on the core and 1365 on the memory with an vddc offset of 125. BF4 runs smooth like hell 120+ fps.

*I get 1120mhz core clock and 1500mhz mem. clock with vddc offset 100 and power limit 100.

*got 55 to 185 fps on bf 4
seen a little flicker while running heaven 1920 x 1080
but with a great score

*I prefer you to run unigine heaven once yo insure stabilty
and no artifacts which will help you to oc more and keep good life time.
*always run osd via msi ab to keep a check on temp as 80*
c or above may reduce huge lifetime and >95*c will destroy.

R9 290 Hawaii based chipsets are very much ok to run at 80 degrees underload and even safe for as much as 95 degrees C.

 

[T3PShooter]

If you're wanting to overclock then the ASUS GTX 780 DCUII http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DWV3NM6 would be the route to go.

The R9 290 is the better choice out of the box but for overclocking the 780 has a lot more headroom and can reach much better performance than the R9 290.

 

[Acidfix]

I run my Gigabyte R9 290 OC Edition at 1080 Core & 1250 Memory. I found that there is no noticeable difference at all when OCing the memory. It will score a very little and I mean very little amount higher in benchmarks but the main thing is the Core as the 512 Bit 5Ghz memory bandwidth ample to say the least.

If I use MSI AfterBurner I am able to bring my Core up to 1130 but I really don't notice any difference in gameplay between 1080 and 1130. As 1080 is already a good OC compared to the stock 947 Core that was on a lot of the reference card's.

I also keep my GPU running under 70C and the memory does really go above 70C as well.

 

[The_Icon]

I run my Gigabyte R9 290 OC Edition at 1080 Core & 1250 Memory. I found that there is no noticeable difference at all when OCing the memory. It will score a very little and I mean very little amount higher in benchmarks but the main thing is the Core as the 512 Bit 5Ghz memory bandwidth ample to say the least.

If I use MSI AfterBurner I am able to bring my Core up to 1130 but I really don't notice any difference in gameplay between 1080 and 1130. As 1080 is already a good OC compared to the stock 947 Core that was on a lot of the reference card's.

I also keep my GPU running under 70C and the memory does really go above 70C as well.

You will see a big difference with memory overclock if you run high texture intensive games like Watch Dogs.

 

[Acidfix]

I run my Gigabyte R9 290 OC Edition at 1080 Core & 1250 Memory. I found that there is no noticeable difference at all when OCing the memory. It will score a very little and I mean very little amount higher in benchmarks but the main thing is the Core as the 512 Bit 5Ghz memory bandwidth ample to say the least.

If I use MSI AfterBurner I am able to bring my Core up to 1130 but I really don't notice any difference in gameplay between 1080 and 1130. As 1080 is already a good OC compared to the stock 947 Core that was on a lot of the reference card's.

I also keep my GPU running under 70C and the memory does really go above 70C as well.

You will see a big difference with memory overclock if you run high texture intensive games like Watch Dogs.

Ah, ok cool. I will bring my memory back up then. Also, how big of a difference and what about BF4? I think I notice a little difference in BF4 now that my memory is at 1400. It will go to 1600, I was messing around with it but I think 1400 is fine.

 

[The_Icon]

I have my Sapphire Trix R9 290 OC (oced to 1150mhz core and 1500mhz memory), I get extra 15 fps and overall much more smoothness when driving around in watch dogs compared to default 1300mhz. This is where GTX 780 will have problems, because not only the memory is 3GB, but uses 384bit compared to 512bit. If you see the benchmarks now, you will know what i mean.

 

[RobCrezz]

I have my Sapphire Trix R9 290 OC (oced to 1150mhz core and 1500mhz memory), I get extra 15 fps and overall much more smoothness when driving around in watch dogs compared to default 1300mhz. This is where GTX 780 will have problems, because not only the memory is 3GB, but uses 384bit compared to 512bit. If you see the benchmarks now, you will know what i mean.

You should look at the benchmarks again. Both the 780 ti and the Titan Black have the same 384bit bus, do you see them lagging behind because of it?

 

[The_Icon]

I have overclocked more than this.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290/5

I have my Sapphire Trix R9 290 OC (oced to 1150mhz core and 1500mhz memory), I get extra 15 fps and overall much more smoothness when driving around in watch dogs compared to default 1300mhz. This is where GTX 780 will have problems, because not only the memory is 3GB, but uses 384bit compared to 512bit. If you see the benchmarks now, you will know what i mean.

You should look at the benchmarks again. Both the 780 ti and the Titan Black have the same 384bit bus, do you see them lagging behind because of it?

 

[RobCrezz]

I have overclocked more than this.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290/5

I have my Sapphire Trix R9 290 OC (oced to 1150mhz core and 1500mhz memory), I get extra 15 fps and overall much more smoothness when driving around in watch dogs compared to default 1300mhz. This is where GTX 780 will have problems, because not only the memory is 3GB, but uses 384bit compared to 512bit. If you see the benchmarks now, you will know what i mean.

You should look at the benchmarks again. Both the 780 ti and the Titan Black have the same 384bit bus, do you see them lagging behind because of it?

So? The 780 Ti overclocks as well.

This still doesn't prove the point of the 384 bit bus causing problems...

 

[The_Icon]

My point is, for a card which is 250$ less or more, I can get equal, close to and sometimes better performance.

I have overclocked more than this.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290/5

I have my Sapphire Trix R9 290 OC (oced to 1150mhz core and 1500mhz memory), I get extra 15 fps and overall much more smoothness when driving around in watch dogs compared to default 1300mhz. This is where GTX 780 will have problems, because not only the memory is 3GB, but uses 384bit compared to 512bit. If you see the benchmarks now, you will know what i mean.

You should look at the benchmarks again. Both the 780 ti and the Titan Black have the same 384bit bus, do you see them lagging behind because of it?

So? The 780 Ti overclocks as well.

This still doesn't prove the point of the 384 bit bus causing problems...

 

[Rapidz]

smack her up 50 mhz