VGA Reviews by stefan @ 2014-01-20
Gigabyte has recently launched another model of the Radeon R9 290X video card, this time sporting the proven WindForce 3X cooler which guarantees cooling performance while keeping the noise at low levels. Besides this we will also find a mild overclock on the GPU from the start, so it will distance itself from the rest of OEM stock solutions.
At first we would like to thank Gigabyte Taiwan for offering a sample of their Radeon R9 290X (GV-R929XOC-4GD) video card for testing and reviewing.
“GIGABYTE was founded in 1986, establishing our uncontested position in continuous technological innovation. By focusing on key technologies and achieving strict quality standards, GIGABYTE has been regarded as an innovative and trusted motherboard leader in the globe. To keep pace in a rapidly changing world, we have offered a comprehensive product line covering Motherboards, Graphics Cards, PC Components, PC Peripherals, Laptops, Slate Devices, Desktop PCs, Network Communications, Servers and Mobile Phones. We are dedicated to building up a full-range digital life, responding promptly and sonorously to consumer needs and desires.”
NEW WINDFORCE 3X 2 SLOT 450W cooling system
Keeping the same 450W Cooling capacity using only 2 slots, the New WINDFORCE 3X 450W cooling system is equipped with two 8mm and four 6mm cooper heat-pipes , inclined fans, and GIGABYTE “Triangle Cool” technology. This not only provides an effective heat dissipation capacity but also enables higher performance due to a lower temperature.
OC GURU ll
Brand-new instinctive user interface, easier to monitoring and adjusting all important settings. Users can set up MONITORING, GPU CLOCK, MEMORY CLOCK,FAN, OSD, ONLINE SUPPORT and update driver, BIOS directly.
AMD Eyefinity
Supporting multiple independent display outputs simultaneously, AMD Eyefinity technology delivers innovative graphics display capabilities enabling massive desktop workspaces and ultra-immersive visual environments for the ultimate panoramic computing experience.
Smart Fan Control
With built-in a hardware switch, you can easily change the fan profile to silent mode or performance mode.
Silent Mode
The fan always runs at low speeds to provide a quiet working environment unless the GPU reaches a certain high temperature.
Performance Mode
The fan speed will be dynamically adjusted based on the GPU temperature variation, this can keep the GPU temperature lower to get a better performance.
We are finally reaching the last high-end segment of the latest AMD Radeon video card series, which is composed of the R9 290 and R9 290X. These cards contain GPUs which are no longer rebrands from the previous generation and sport the Hawaii code name. The GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture has been taken to the next level (version 1.1) and now we are dealing with a better optimized and higher performance product which does also bring new features to the tablet (some of them which are shared with the rebrands too).
Let’s take a look at the technical specifications and compare with the Tahiti 280X:
The 6.2 Billion transistors are fitted on a 438 mm2 die which is still smaller than Nvidia’s GK110. AMD has decided to go with a 512-bit memory bus this time (and this is not the attempt from AMD since we have also seen this with the AMD RADEON HD 2900XT quite some time ago), by using eight 64-bit memory controllers in total.
The next PowerTune version is also present here, which acts like a GPU Boost; the GPU comes with a standard frequency and also a max. frequency -> depending on factors like power draw, performance and temperature, the frequency will automatically adjust along with the fan speed and voltage.
What brings the Gigabyte 290X OC Windforce 3X model new to the table? Well, we have an adaptation of their proven 2-slot 450W cooling system for keeping the temperatures at bay and avoid throttling as we have seen with the stock cooling model, but also a small overclock of the GPU to 1040MHz; Gigabyte has left the memory clocks the same as on the stock model. Two fan profiles are preloaded (Silent and Performance); these can be accessed by using the small switch present on the card.
The Radeon R9 290X WindForce 3X OC arrives in a similar cardboard box as the previous versions sporting the same type of cooler and the main highlights are present as icons on the frontal side:
Some more details can be found on the lateral side:
If we would like to find more info about the cooling system, we can easily flip the box in order to access the back side:
The internal black box comes with a central Gigabyte logo:
The card stays secure in the middle and is surrounded by a protective sponge-like material. Additionally, the manufacturer has also used an anti-static bag; underside the card we will also find additional bundle, something that was not present with our sample:
On the aluminum shroud is initially covered with a transparent plastic film for avoiding scratches to the surface:
As we have seen on the GTX 780 and GTX 770 solutions, Gigabyte has opted for a tri-fan solution which permits a more uniform cooling of the large heatsink which covers most of the PCB surface, without the need of keeping the fans at high speeds. This cooling system is also very compact, without exceeding the height of two slots:
Each fan is equipped with 11 semi-transparent fan blades:
On the shroud we also have a nice looking WindForce logo:
When looking on the card sides, we will be able to see the heatsink in more detail; on the side with the PCI-Express connectors (8-pin + 6-pin) we will be also able to see the metallic frame which holds the PCB from bending and is fixed to it via additional screws:
On the back side of the board we will be able to see a portion of the fan cable, but also the heatpipe terminations:
Here is also a look on the bottom side of the board:
On a closer look we will be able to see a small switch which dictates the current fan profile; we have Performance mode when the switch is orientated in the direction of the I/O shield and Silent mode while the switch is orientated in the opposite direction:
On the shield, the card is equipped with two DVIs, one HDMI and one DisplayPort:
In order to get access to the top side of the PCB, we will have to remove the four spring-loaded screws around the GPU:
Secondly, we need to also remove the two screws in the location of the VRM heatsink:
In the middle of the card we will find the 290X GPU which is surrounded by no less than 16 memory chips:
The memory chips are manufactured by Elpida with the W2032BBBG-6A-F code name, which are specified to run at 1500MHz (so we should have quite a bit of room for overclocking):
As on the stock AMD R9 290X cards, we are dealing with an International Rectifier IR 3567B controller which provides software voltage control and monitoring:
Both VRM1 and VRM2 components are cooled by the large heatsink and stay in contact via thermal pads:
The Hawaii GPU does not have any inscriptions and comes with a mirror finish; it is produced on 28nm at TSMC averaging 6.2 billion transistors:
CPU: Intel I5 3570K Retail @ 4.7GHz
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 OC
RAM: GeIL Black Dragon 2x4GB DDR2133 (@1600)
Video: Currently reviewed card
Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 240GB
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840
With the help of the GPU-Z 0.7.5 utility, we could extract lots of information regarding the video card clocks,memory type, pixel and texture fill rate and so on:
To extract even more information, we have used the AIDA64 utility:
The latest version of the OC GURU II overclocking utility can be downloaded from the manufacturers’ website and from the main interface we can fine-tune the clocks for both GPU and memory, increase the voltages, set custom fan curves and more:
The Monitoring section can be opened in a more advanced way, which shows live graphs of the current GPU Clock, Memory Clock, GPU Voltage, Memory Voltage, current Fan Speed or GPU Temperature:
In order to create new fan profiles, we will have to access the respective section and draw a graph:
The location of the OSD can be modified, along with the hot key, the Screenshot hot key and some screen settings:
For finding out the temperatures in both IDLE and Full Load with the fan set on Auto, we left the computer IDLE for about 25 minutes and then started monitoring with HWINFO64 and logged the values obtained while running Heaven 4.0 at 2560x1440 resolution for an additional 40 to 50 minutes, with details at Maximum and Tesselation set to Extreme. During this time, the ambient temperature was held steady at 20.5 degrees Celsius.
The tests were ran in both Performance and Silent modes, by using the hardware switch:
Before measuring out the noise the video card was producing, we have first measured the noise inside the room the tests took place and we found out it was 28.9dBA (with everything turned off).
At all times, the sound meter was placed 20cm near the video card.
The GPU fan was controlled by the latest version of Catalyst Control Center:
The newly released R9 290X WindForce OC from Gigabyte is meant to solve the issues which were found with the stock model (throttling, quite high Full Load temperatures, noise levels), by implementing a proven cooling system design; the WindForce cooling system has a tri-fan solution and a large heatsink which covers the entire PCB. Besides the GPU, the cooler also touches the VRM1, VRM2 and memory chips for providing better operating temperatures.
Speaking of the temperatures, we have ran the board in both available modes, Silent (Quiet) and Performance (Uber); the Silent mode keeps very low noise levels and in Full Load we have seen maximum temperatures of 84 degrees on the GPU and a bit higher temps on the VRM, which has reached a maximum of 94 after 33 minutes of Unigine Heaven. Performance mode is another story completely, when the fans are permitted to go even higher, but to our surprise the noise levels remained very good; this translates in a maximum of 72 degrees Celsius for the GPU and 67.9 degrees for the VRM.
In order to check if throttling occurs while running in Silent mode, we have run Unigine Heaven again while monitoring the temperatures via OC GURU II. The live graph tells us the story that the card does not throttle at all, which is impressive.
We would like also to mention that the temperatures and fan speeds might slightly vary depending on the ambient and also on the airflow inside the case. If we have a case with poor air circulation, most of it will be recycled and this will translate in higher fan speeds so the card will be able to keep the temperatures at bay.
Regarding the card performances, it is a winner in most cases, except when we are running heavily optimized Nvidia games, where the overclocked GTX 780 takes the crown.
The card still has some overclocking room left, and the performance difference can be observed quite easily:
The GV-R929XOC-4GD model can be found online for about 488 Euros, while the variant with bundled BF4 can climb up to 504 Euros.
We would like to thank again to Gigabyte Taiwan for making this review possible!