AMD in its line of R7 / R9 graphics cards can not boast a wide variety of models. Only 2 video cards are relatively new - AMD R9 290X and R9 290. They are equipped with a new Hawaii graphics processor built on the Graphics Core Next architecture. These chips aroused great interest among many users, because at their relatively low price they have good characteristics and high performance in games. Sometimes the performance of these video cards is higher compared to the more expensive competitor chips. For example, the AMD R9 290X graphics card turned out to be slightly faster than the popular GTX TITAN, which costs almost twice as much.
However, these cards have some disadvantages. In particular, the used Hawaii processor heats up very much during operation, so for its cooling it was necessary to provide a large heatsink and a powerful cooler, which should almost always work at high speeds. Naturally, this implies a higher noise level during the operation of the chip. However, the developers partially solved this question: they offered the user two modes of operation for the AMD R9 290X video card: Quiet Mode and Uber Mode. In the first mode, the fan noise level was acceptable due to the low processor performance. However, in the second mode, performance was brought to the forefront and the cooler rotation speed was not taken into account.
But this applies only to a standard cooling system. After all, there are still partner companies that often offer video cards with their cooling systems on the market. However, the partners were in no hurry to develop their cooling systems. In response to the release of the AMD R9 290X, NVIDIA launched its GTX 780 Ti, and it has already hit the market with its cooling systems. Asus was the first to create its own efficient cooling system. We will talk about how it is implemented in the Asus AMD R9 290X video card a little later, and the review itself will start with simple things.
Box
The video chip comes in a cardboard box with a stylish exterior design in the style of Asus. There are no major design changes, but now there is an AMD shortcut in the lower right corner.
The design of the box focuses on the cooling system. According to the advertising label, the system developed by Asus is 20% more efficient and quieter than the stock one. At the bottom there are shortcuts that indicate the key parameters of the video card. Of particular note is the "OS" label, which indicates that the video card has the potential for overclocking. This indirectly confirms the fact that the company's engineers were able to develop a more efficient cooling system, even if they are ready to provide the user with the opportunity to disperse an already very hot chip.
On the back of the box there is also a description of the video card with the video outputs and system requirements. From this information, the required power for the power supply is allocated. The system must use a power supply with a power of at least 750 W, and the current value to the 12-volt line should be 24 A. Note that not only the video chip, but also other components, including the central processor, are powered from 12 V. Therefore, the power supply should be selected more powerful. In general, power supplies that can meet the needs of such a video card will be expensive.
Equipment
Quite often, productive graphics cards have boring packages. This trend continues, and AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB is no exception. Package Includes:
- Instruction
- Software.
- Adapter for additional power.
- Stickers.
This set has the necessary minimum for work, nothing more.
Cooling system
To begin with, different manufacturers have different cooling systems for this video card. The Asus model uses the DirectCU II cooling system, in which the heat pipes have direct contact with the GPU. However, the width of the tubes does not allow them to contact the entire area with the processor, so only 3 out of 5 tubes have direct contact with the chip. Heat from these tubes is transferred to the fins of the radiator, which are blown by two fans.
The contact points of the heat pipes and radiators are well soldered and firmly fixed, the cooling elements are protected against nickel oxidation. Coolers of the cooling system have a different structure: the first is made by CoolTech technology, the other has a standard impeller. Note that a separate radiator is used separately for the power elements of the power system - this is a metal plate with low fins. However, the video memory here does not have a radiator, so it is naturally cooled.
The power wiring has changed a bit. Additional phases appeared in the subsystem to power the GPU and memory. In this video card, the number of phases is nine. MOSFET assemblies are used as power elements in the power phases, and field effect transistors are used in the power phases of video memory.
Like the standard AMD Radeon R9 290X 4 Gb graphics card, the Asus model also has a switch that allows the user to select the operating mode of the video card. In addition, the chip has pads through which the mains voltage is monitored.
Here, we use ELPIDA W2032BBBG-6A-F chips as memory chips - there are 16 such chips in the entire video card. The frequency of these chips is 5400 MHz, and the frequency of the main GPU has now increased to 1050 MHz. For the chip to work, additional power is needed, which it receives through two connectors: 6-pin and 8-pin. Near each of the connectors is an indicator (LED) that reports on the activity of the connector.
Testing, overclocking and power consumption
At the very beginning, we define the system that was used for testing:
- Intel Core i5-3570K processor with a frequency of 3.4 GHz.
- RAM Corsair DDR3. 2 strips of 8 GB with a frequency of 2133 MHz.
- A hard disk with a rotation speed of 7200 rpm.
- Power supply unit Chieftec Nitro II BPS-850C2 at 850 watts.
- OS Windows 7 64-bit.
Most users want to know how quiet and efficient the new Asus cooling system is compared to the standard. Therefore, it follows from a study of the temperature regime.
During the launch of games in the "quiet" mode of operation, the chip temperature reached 93 degrees. The fan rotation speed was 56% of the maximum speed, and the chip itself worked at the maximum frequency of 1050 MHz. After switching the mode and setting the maximum fan speed, the chip temperature dropped to 78 degrees. At the same time, the noise from the cooling system increased, but the Asus video card still worked much quieter compared to the standard model.
With a heavy load, the power consumption of the video card was 275 watts, which allows us to conclude: the box shows the current that only one video card consumes. This is important to consider when choosing a power supply.
The overclocking potential of the video card is also available. You can increase the voltage of the processor of the video card, which will increase the frequency from 1050 MHz to 1140 MHz. The memory frequency may increase to 6110 MHz. In this case, power consumption will be increased to 320 watts, and the temperature will increase to 81-82 degrees.
Test results
This video card passed game tests along with its closest competitors. The following models also took part in the test: GeForce GTX 690, GTX 780 Ti, Radeon 7990. All these cards passed the test at their nominal frequencies, and the maximum resolution (2560x1600) and maximum graphics settings were activated in the game.
In Crysis 3, video cards showed the following results:
- AMD R9 290X - 27.3
- GeForce GTX 690 - 31.7
- GTX 780 Ti - 26.8
- Radeon 7990 - 33.8
In Far Cry 3, the results are as follows:
- AMD R9 290X - 35.2
- GeForce GTX 690 - 47.4
- GTX 780 Ti - 40.2
- Radeon 7990 - 42.5
In Metro Last Light:
- AMD R9 290X - 49.9
- GeForce GTX 690 - 51.1
- GTX 780 Ti - 49.9
- Radeon 7990 - 55.7
It follows that the closest competitor to the AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics card is Nvidia's GTX 780 Ti.
In conclusion, we can say that the developed cooling system by Asus engineers is superior to the standard, but the video card cannot be called quiet even with this system. With heavy loads in games, the cooler has to rotate at huge speeds, so the chip will warm up and make noise. However, this video card is very productive, and it can be safely recommended for gamers to build a gaming computer.
Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 290X review
Not only Asus introduced this model to the market, there are other manufacturers. However, Sapphire took a different path and introduced a video card with a reference cooling system on the market. This means that the cooling of the video card has not changed, and the design is fully consistent with the design recommendations of AMD.
The characteristics of the AMD R9 290X fully comply with the parameters of the Sapphire video card, and here we also use the reference frequency circuit without using any overclocking. On the one hand, this is good, but on the other - bad, because all overlocking is passed on to users.
Packaging
Unlike Asus, Sapphire offers a more interesting box with a bright design. But red colors also prevail here. The main element of the front of the model is the image of the head of the robot, which indirectly hints at the gaming purpose of this card. The lower part traditionally lists the key features of the AMD Radeon R9 290X:
- 4 GB of memory with a 512-bit bus.
- Microarchitecture GCN.
- Ability to run games on 4K Ultra HD screens.
- HDMI port and cable included.
Inside is the video card itself, which is tightly fixed in a foam form and antistatic package. The package bundle is especially pleased: after all, besides standard components, there is also an HDMI cable.
Cooling
As mentioned above, this model uses a reference cooling system developed by AMD. A large radiator and a red 78-mm turbine-type radiator are hidden under the plastic casing, the task of which is to drive air through the radiator fins. Air passing through the fins takes heat and removes it outside the system unit through the interface panel. Note that this is a pretty good solution, because in many other video cards the cooling system provides for cooling the heatsink and removing heat inside the system unit, and not beyond.
Therefore, the AMD Sapphire R9 290X graphics card is ideal for a bundle of two or more video cards, because when placed together in a system unit, even with the minimum distances between them, the heat sink efficiency will not drop.
The graphics processor here contacts the evaporative copper chamber through a thin layer of thermal paste. According to the test results, the video card showed good results. At maximum load, the cooler rotational speed was 2630 rpm, which equals 50% of the possible speed. At the same time, the temperature of the chip rose to 94 degrees. The noise level from the cooler was average. However, at the maximum speed of the cooler (5230 rpm), the GPU temperature dropped to 73 degrees, but the video card was buzzing quite strongly. However, a lot of noise can be in games where a high power video chip is required. In idle mode, the temperature of the chip does not rise above 50 degrees, and the cooler spins at a speed of 1060-1080 rpm, so it does not make much noise.
As a conclusion, we can say that the cooling system AMD R9 290X 4GB manufactured by Sapphire is noisy, and at the same time, it can hardly cope with its main task. In this regard, the manufacturer Asus wins with a more thoughtful and efficient cooling system.
Overclocking
Sapphire's AMD R9 290X graphics card is also overclockable. Using the MSI Afterburner program, you can increase the voltage of the graphics core, which will increase the GPU frequency to 1190 MHz (initially the frequency is 947 MHz). This is a pretty good result. But you need to understand that overlocking will lead to a more intense heating of the chip, but already after overclocking at a fan speed of 100%, the temperature of heating the chip did not exceed 82 degrees. So a performance boost without sacrificing a video card is possible.
One of the advantages of this chip is the possibility of overclocking. In general, on the basis of this video card you can build a powerful system that meets the requirements of gamers and just fans to play new releases. The disadvantage is the insufficiently efficient cooling system. Even in the absence of a serious load on the video card, the sound of the fan is clearly audible. And the noise when starting a "heavy" game increases very much. The noise level during fan operation is 100% higher than comfortable, and this should be taken into account when choosing such a video card. Nevertheless, Asus specialists improved this property of this model, but did not solve the problem completely.
AMD Radeon R9 290X MSI Graphics Card
MSI decided to keep up with its competitors and also put on the market a model based on the R9 290X chip. She got the name with the prefix Lightning. The device comes in a small box with an image of a fighter. Inside is a black box in which the graphics card is nicely packed. This is a fairly large device with three radiators 30 cm long.
The cooling system is represented by three expansion slots and three fans. The reverse side of the card is covered with a metal plate, due to which microcircuits are not visible. A massive stiffener is immediately visible - this is a fairly large plate, which is also a radiator here. The model has an interesting individual feature - under heavy load, the Lightning logo glows in red, with a minimum - green, with an average - blue.
Cooling
The cooling system has four thick tubes with a diameter of 6 and 8 mm. These tubes are securely fastened with a large radiator, which is divided into 2 parts. On top of it are mounted coolers with frames. The impeller for all fans is made using Propeller Blade technology with a bend at the edges of the blades. This increases the blowing area.
An interesting feature is that the GPU has 10 phases, which is twice as much as the original version of the R9 290X. Also, MSI experts promise the highest frequency shown by this card compared to other models assembled on the basis of this chip. The fastest microcircuits were selected for this video card, and AMD engineers were engaged in their optimization and configuration. The manufacturer MSI has put on the market an already overclocked video card with a frequency of 1080 MHz. This factory frequency for a very hot processor is an excellent value. If you wish, you can try to overclock yourself, but this is not recommended.
When testing the cooling system, the Unigine Valley benchmark program was used. At a maximum load of the chip for 13 minutes, the temperature did not exceed the mark of 77 degrees, and this is an excellent result. Of course, the noise was quite high.
Conclusion
We can say with confidence that the MSI chip showed excellent results when tested for heating temperature, and this is taking into account the very hot Hawaii GPU. The noise is a bit high, but still the graphic solution created by MSI specialists is much better than the reference. After all, the potential of such a system made it possible to reduce not only the heating temperature of the graphic core, but also reduce the noise level.
At the same time, the factory overclocking of the chip is very close to the maximum overclocking level of the reference video card. You can even try to independently increase the frequency of the graphics core. Lightning also provides extensive monitoring capabilities and functionality for overlocking. We can say with confidence that it is AMD Radeon R9 290X MSI that is the most successful solution among existing video cards based on this chip. In second place can be put a model from Asus, in third - a reference video card from Sapphire. It is the model from MSI that collects the best reviews on various gaming forums. But the video card from Sapphire is the least popular and does not collect rave reviews because of the standard cooling system that other developers were able to bring to mind.
In conclusion, we can say that this model turned out to be quite successful - in the average price range, this video card occupies one of the leading positions. Of course, the device does not reach the top solutions, but you can completely launch new game releases on such a chip at medium / high graphics settings.