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Graphics Any R290 owners yet?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Neogumbercules, 10 Nov 2013.

  1. Chris_Waddle

    Chris_Waddle Loving my new digital pinball machine

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    Well I've been having a nightmare with my 290X's since I got them. No matter what drivers I used or Mantle on/off BF4 (and all other games) have been running like a pig. I'd tried clean installs of Windows 7 and even 8.1. Compared to the Titan's these cards were appauling.
    Games would play, the frame rates were fine, but there was just so much stutter and lag.

    I was seriously regretting buying them; so much so that Saturday morning I took them out of the case to take them back to Scan and get my money back before the 7 days ran out.

    Before I packed them back up I decided to test the system with just one card in. I put in the first card, fired it up and it all worked fine. BF4 even ran well.

    I swapped out the first card for the 2nd one and booted up. Straight away I could tell that all wasn't well. I had strange flashing images on screen and when I booted up BF4 there was horrendous artifacting on screens. I changed from 5900x1080 (bezel corrected) down to 1920x1080 and the issues still persisted.

    I'm glad I've got the the bottom of the problems, but I'm very disappointed that one of the cards is broken. For once I had nothing to do with it either as I'd never even got round to any overclocking or watercooling. What's also annoying is that I now have to go through the RMA process.

    This is the first time I have gone down the route of the red side for many a year. Not a great welcome.
     
  2. sandys

    sandys Multimodder

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    I had similar problems and went through a similar process, didn't have a faulty card just drivers that seem to be easy to break, I find that after any change a driver re0install and reboot is required. Doesn't feel as slick as Nvidia it has to be said but when you get used the AMD quirks they run pretty well and fast.
     
  3. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    AMDs quirks keep away alot of high end users though. Mantle wont change that fact. If I knew id be the one who would have to fix the system if it broke Id never recommend a AMD card as id be over there everytime they do a driver update.

    Its why alot of people who use AMD are on older drivers that they finally got installed and working. ( Around half of my current guild uses AMD cards ( at the time of the poll lol). All but 2 use pre 14.0 drivers)

    Enough in truth on a clean install its pretty painless. ( installed my 7970 into my 3960k rig to test mantle) Not had any real issues outside of some glitchy sound which may not even be related to AMDs drivers. Question is how it will react once the next update is released might keep it around till then.

    Have Thief on pre order and I Expect it to be alot more testable than BF4 is for mantle purposes.
     
  4. PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn

    PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn Unholy Cyborg Fruit Machine

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    haven''t played a busy MP since updating to mantle, lot of issues with the Intel IGP which it would crash the moment you tried clicking options. but previously would get 55-60 FPS @1440p ultra, on the test range was getting 80+

    however, as an oddity, I can modify settings in catalyst but after restarting they are completely reset. which is a tad frustrating.

    I was lucky with getting mine at £305 inc postage from Dabs.
     
  5. modd1uk

    modd1uk Multimodder

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    If you could, would you swap it for a 780 ? buying a new card but undecided if I should go 290 or 780
     
  6. law99

    law99 Custom User Title

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    I missed paying that amount by a day... :(

    Good effort.

    Re: all the freaking problems

    My card has been really good as far as I can tell. But I only play one game... so it isn't much of an appraisal.
     
  7. AlienwareAndy

    AlienwareAndy What's a Dremel?

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    On 13.1 my 7990 has been pretty epic if I'm honest. 14.1 immediately broke my computer (hurrah AMD, at it again !).

    I know it's not a 290, but I do feel their drivers have improved (when they're not breaking my rig of course). Crossfire is light years ahead of the stuttering mess it was the last time I dared to use it.
     
  8. law99

    law99 Custom User Title

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    I'm sure you'll be more than pleased to know 14.1 works lovely for me. :) mwa ha ha ha! I don't use mantle though.

    I'm still confused as to why anyone would recommend the 290x over the 290. The cost difference of £80 for near enough zero difference.
     
  9. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    It will likely overclock further and will be alot faster when put under water.

    r290x is slowed down by the shocking cooler that AMD has put on it. General reviews of 2 under water have them alot faster than the equivelent 2 r290s.

    End of the day just comes down to cash if you have the extra £160 for 2 and are going to watercool them then why not. Wether you would get that level of performance is mute point.

    Look at the 670 vs 680. 680 was nvidias top selling card ( of the generation) followed by the 660 and 660ti that they made after.

    670 was similar performance defict to the 680 as the r290 is to the r290x.( 5-10% at best without watercooling)
     
  10. sandys

    sandys Multimodder

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    290x is faster than a 290 simple, that is why it cost more, same when you compared 680 to 670, yes you could get similar performances with overclocking but as both cards overclock to similar levels the more expensive card is still faster.
     
  11. modd1uk

    modd1uk Multimodder

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    780 or 290, I had originally had my heart set on a 290 and waited for the custom cooled versions to come out, however ever reading about AMD drivers I'm starting to lean to the 780, would this be a mistake ? Not to mention the lack of availability of the 290 custom cooled cards.
     
  12. law99

    law99 Custom User Title

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    Hmmm... I just revisited some benchmarks and it does seem this difference is pretty common in this race. I stand corrected. Or maybe it demonstrates I'll never price that performance as being worth £80 or £100 more.
     
  13. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    Depends on games you play really. If you think mantle will be the next big thing ( might be just not this year) How much you want physics. And if your willing to put up with AMDs quirks, you will basically find 1 stable driver and stick to it. ( due to reinstall and upgrade issues of drivers)

    If you were thinking of SLI or CFX at a later date then Nvidia is still a better choice just in the way the game runs, CFX is improving but its still 10-15% behind nvidia across the board in that regard.

    With Mantle not having the frame pacing and requiring the devs to do the work ( whos bright idea was this ? ) Mantle + Cfx rigs will always be a no go due to the issues that cfx has without the frame pacing work AMD has already done.

    Personally hope AMD turns around and says we will do frame pacing for mantle as it makes it alot more tempting to high end purchases.

    Some will say the Frame pacing is a none issue but anyone who has used CFX or SLI will tell you its a big issue that both systems still have not fully corrected over the years that they have existed.

    Ill still always say games are smoother on a single card than any CFX or SLI system ive ever owned.
     
  14. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    Just depends on how much you value that performance extra like everything else really.

    For most the r290 is a better priced card for 5-10% less performance. But theres always buyers of the high end stuff even if its just for Epeen to say it.
     
  15. Chris_Waddle

    Chris_Waddle Loving my new digital pinball machine

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    Well I drove to Scan yesterday, they agreed my 2nd card was borked and swapped it over for a new one.

    Tested it out, worked great; so on went the waterblocks. Next came the fun bit of installing the rigid tubing. Tube bending is something that I really need to practice some more - lol.

    Thankfully it works like a dream (and looks quite good too). As it was late, I didn't get chance to do much testing but I did get the cards to 1160 on the core and 1500 on the memory.
     
  16. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    Kudos for having a go at rigid tubing! It looks rock hard!
     
  17. Chris_Waddle

    Chris_Waddle Loving my new digital pinball machine

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    It's not so much difficult as skilled. Getting the bend exactly where you want it and in the direction you want it is the most difficult thing. With practice I'm sure you'd get good at it.

    It's very easy to screw it up and get the bend in the wrong place (or melt the tubing). You can reheat it of course, but getting it straight again or moving the bend along is more tricky.

    The big advantage of it, is that you can route it around pretty much anything; you just need lots of patience (and spare tubing).
     
  18. Chris_Waddle

    Chris_Waddle Loving my new digital pinball machine

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    This is how it ended up looking. It's not perfect by any means, but I ran out of tubing and had to make do with what I had.

    Once Specialtech get more stock in, I will redo the pieces I'm not happy with after replacing the CPU cooling loop. Not sure if I should go for a different colour of tubing on that loop?

    If there are any backplates in stock for the graphics cards I will fit those too as I think they look much better.

    The waterblocks have made a massive difference to the temps on the cards. Even with an increase in voltage and overclocks, the temps max out in the 50's. Compared to an idle temp of around 50 with air cooling it's a huge improvement.

    [​IMG]
     
  19. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    Wow, fantastic work dude! Really impressed!
     
  20. Neogumbercules

    Neogumbercules What's a Dremel?

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    Tubing looks great. I again priced out WC parts. Looking at about $400 bucks. Not something I wanna invest right this moment but damn, 50c max temps?

    Anyway, to answer the question of a poster above, I'd recommend everyone watches this demonstration before deciding between AMD (mantle) and Nvidia (gsync)

    http://international.download.nvidi...ational/videos/NVIDIA_GSYNC_Product_Video.mp4

    Because... wow. If GSync lives up to it's hype, then I'm more than willing to change back to an nvidia product.
     

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