If it is indeed at the $400 price point I dont think i'll be able to pass that up. Awesome bang for the buck.
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If it is indeed at the $400 price point I dont think i'll be able to pass that up. Awesome bang for the buck.
I'm just waiting on how best to cool a 290, and I want to know if XFX will support their warranty if I talk it over about putting on a custom cooler... There is no way in the red hot core of the earth that I will allow that reference cooler to run in my office. I already have a Poweredge server obliterating my silence. I've moved it around so that the noise doesn't bother me (and its constant, easier to drown out!).
Custom/aftermarket cooler or its a bust for me and I'll drop the coin on a 7970 GHz edition.
The best one would be probably Arctic cooling xtreme III, it should be near silent on 7v and quiet at 12v.Gelid has one too.And there are even reports of partners stock coolers from 7970 fitting R290/x ,ICEQ from his, and they lower the temp up to 40C while being a lot quieter.Go figure.As for warranty, if you do it properly and don't rip something off, you can just put retail cooler back and they have no reason to not support the warranty.Or just wait 2 weeks for a factory mounted custom coolers.
The problem with those coolers is the vrm cooling though. 290 sucks a lot of juice.
There is no way that I would use an aftermarket air cooler with one of these cards unless someone like zalman releases something with solid vrm cooling like their old vf3000 series. Butchering the stock cooler and using the vrm plate may be another option but there goes your warranty for sure.
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I currently have two 5870's in crossfire in my desktop right now, both with the Accelero Xtreme 5870 HSF mounted on them. They definitely work well and have no problem buying that one again. However one thing that's missing is a screw-mounted VRM heatsink. My Accelero Xtreme 5870 has a very nicely designed 5870 VRM heatsink that is screwed into the board, whereas the Xtreme III uses thermal adhesive in tandem with generic heatinks. I guess I just feel more comfortable with the screwed in stuff :D
If Swiftech made a full-cover heatsink and a closed-loop waterblock/radiator/pump that would work well together and be more-or-less upgrade proof, then I'd buy everything in a heartbeat.
that hybrid might work as the fan is right on top of the vrm's but for the price I would rather have EK
http://www.arctic.ac/us_en/products/...ro-hybrid.html
I knew this was going to be a problem with the beginning with a card like hawaii. After market really doesn't do a good job cooling the VRM's and power scales up so much with Hawaii.
A waterblock is the solution but I always found waterblock cooling kind of annoying in a couple ways. Unlike CPU blocks, the block is usually good for only that particularly GPU and they cost like 150 dollars. That a pretty big investment for a 400-550 dollar card(and this is ignoring the fittings, possible radiator upgrades, fans and the case if your isn't equipped to handle it in the first place). The payoff I find for GPU water cooling for overclocking I find isn't as good as it is for CPU from my own experience. If ones doesn't have a water cooling solution in the first place, your adding 200-300 on top of that.
If I could buy a waterblocks that is 150 dollars that was universal and was fullcover, I would be more happy to do it. But considering its good for that card only, its a tougher pill to swallow. For me, the best cards to water cool are the dual GPU cards. Your cooling two GPU with a single block for just a bit more money than a single block. That gives it better value for me.
EK's acetal+copper blocks are around $100. Its well worth it imo and thats for any card. I love being able to keep my cards cool and silent while gaming.
If it weren't for watercooling my video cards my cpu would still be under a true.
Although, I do always lose my shirt on vga blocks when selling them. Water cooling sure isn't cheap.
If someone is interested
http://www.overclock.net/t/1439731/b...mple-cheap-fix
Link to the image: http://cdn.overclock.net/7/7a/7a95edfc_290.PNG
Not sure but maybe this is better than twin frozer and direct cu ? Awesome option though I guess most would rather get DCU2 OR TF3 ... are those cards coming with different PCB or standard ?
290x lightning and Toxic really waiting to see those beasts.
im going to be checking out the asus matrix model..
Lol! of course your 7970 and 680 are different PCB! *snicker*
I know lightning matrix toxic come with more phases ect so non ref pcb... 280x dc2 and MSI gaming twinfrozer comes with rearranged PCB I guess doesn't mention more phases or anything on their sites you cant see a reference 280x heh. Stock 290 for 400$ and that gelid cooler is the best bet IMO, (anyways I tend to redo tim and retighten heatsink for best temps).
Its so funny I just ran thru newegg there isn't a ref cooler for 280x lol. WHY THE HELL couldn't they take that approach for 290 290x , silly silly AMD but atleast the CARD itself is LEGENDARY.
I've looked at several videos now of the 290x in uber mode, and yes the 780s are nice and quiet, but I can't say the 290 at 55% is that bad, especially not when gaming. Maybe for compute when the only thing you can hear is the card but I can live with it.
don't know about the new 280 dc2 the old 7970 did
http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/HD7970DC2T3GD5/Quote:
12-phase
Nice temp drop there. Granted, caseless, but still even if you add 10C for being in a case the temps are still much nicer.
Ah whats taking them so long .... should be flooding the market with 290 DCu2 TF TOXIC !!! Cant see nothing on anyone's site .... friends picking up one now and maaaaybe another later can't wait to get my hands on it :D (I might pick up a pair when next gen causes these to drop price mega , ill be able to do a cheap seiki 4k screen as well maybe :D)