AMD Radeon R9 290X Press Sample Versus Retail

[Apoptosis]

The AMD Radeon R9 290X and R9 290 have been getting a ton of attention lately due to a number of reports that the retail cards are performing differently than the press cards that the media sites received. We have been following these stories for the past few weeks and finally decided to look into the situation ourselves.



Article Title: AMD Radeon R9 290X Press Sample Versus Retail
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/amd-radeon- ... ail_129583

[Major_A]

Press cards probably = cherry picked parts and highly optimized BIOS files. Retail cards = whatever part they put on it and a "safe" BIOS file.

I hate this new dynamic clock crap. The only thing I want is a low power state and a high performance state. If the card can't handle the heat then make a better damn heatsink. With all the resources AMD has at their disposal there is no excuse for this card to be shipped with its current cooler.

*EDIT*
I don't own a R9 290X but I'm sure the people that do would appreciate a link to the press card BIOS file if that's at all possible.

[Apoptosis]

Press cards probably = cherry picked parts and highly optimized BIOS files. Retail cards = whatever part they put on it and a "safe" BIOS file.

I hate this new dynamic clock crap. The only thing I want is a low power state and a high performance state. If the card can't handle the heat then make a better damn heatsink. With all the resources AMD has at their disposal there is no excuse for this card to be shipped with its current cooler.

*EDIT*
I don't own a R9 290X but I'm sure the people that do would appreciate a link to the press card BIOS file if that's at all possible.

I'm talking with AMD and trying to look at a new BIOS file dated 11/25/2013... Might just be better than the versions out there now, so I'll see what that looks like first. With hundreds of press cards out there I'm sure someone has posted that BIOS up.

[sbohdan]

Since I have switched to water-cooling both my CPU and GPU, I'm very happy with the temps and would never go back to what was before! The difference is so huuuge, that air-cooling just seems pathetic in comparison! The 290X just begs to be water-cooled and should of never been sold with reference coolers, especially for such a high price. 94C is just waaay too high - I don't care how much a card can take but approaching 100C is just plain nuts!

On another hand, those who were unfortunate to by this card with a reference cooler, should get into water-cooling or just get an aftermarket cooler, or if their budget is gone from buying such an expensive card, just take off the cooler, clean the GPU and replace the cheap TIM with some good quality stuff. In my experience this by itself, if applied properly, will reduce temps. Of course for such a price you shouldn't have to do this but look at the improperly cut out stickers and be sure, things you can't see are even worse of