Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Tri-X 4GB Graphics Card

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Ryan and the gang at PC Perspective have taken the Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Tri-X 4GB out for a spin today to see what the card is made of.

If all of these cards were available today, the Sapphire Tri-X model would be one of, if not THE best option for high end enthusiast gamers on the market. As it sits now, gamers are forced to either wait and see what happens to pricing and availability to the new R9 290X models in January or they can decide to buy a GeForce GTX product today. It's a tougher choice for many than I think AMD and its partners would like to admit.
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I just want to see what ASUS could do with a triple-fan cooler.
They basically matched that Sapphire card with 2 fans spinning at 300 RPM less.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
I just want to see what ASUS could do with a triple-fan cooler.
They basically matched that Sapphire card with 2 fans spinning at 300 RPM less.
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A 3rd fan on the Asus actually wouldn't help much because of the better left-to-right fin design + the left fan acts more like a 1 1/2 fan due to the dual blade design.

The triple fans are needed because of the up-down fin design which is (arguably) cheaper to produce, but much harder to keep cool. Not to mention heat up the motherboard ...etc...
 
Damn, no one except HardOCP include vrm temps, which make the core temps useless, without knowing what oc temps we will get, and possibly render the card useless.
 
Yeah, is [H] getting a card for a review ?
It seems that both cards are good on stock , overclocking on the sapphire pays of seeing the price still would favour Asus.
 
I'm going back and forth between the DCII and Tri-X. If the DCII is only $20 more than ref then that will probably be the winner.
 
Guys there are plenty of reviews out there. Its a reference design with a better cooler and much less noise. Idle is roughly the same as stock -/+ 5 degrees, and load at 70-73, while being very quiet.

What else do you want to know?
 
iGrooCk said:
Guys there are plenty of reviews out there. Its a reference design with a better cooler and much less noise. Idle is roughly the same as stock -/+ 5 degrees, and load at 70-73, while being very quiet.

What else do you want to know?
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/agree.. hoping for a REAL Sapphire Toxic/MSI Lightnin. ie fully custom PCB with 2x 8PCIe power. The closest so far seems to be the DCu II although still lacking. Not bad though for basically a reference 290X with a nice cooler to equal/beat the very well refined 780Ti.. it goes to show how mature the 28nm process is, with the 7970 going against the 580/680 and 780LE (770).. and the Titan/780/780LE(770) doing equally well against the competition. Both AMD and NV are utilizing the manufacturing processes available to them to their near max potential..will be interesting as the 290(x) matures some and what eventually a new process brings down the road. (more often than not, a highly polished/mature yet larger process is not that far behind a newer/smaller immature one, at least the 1st iterations, particularly in relation to scaling)
 
Card looks highly impressive, especially considering it is reference PCB based.
 
Taken from OCN,

zdoa.jpg


VRM temps are a bit high, but keep in mind this is with 1.4v...@1200/1500....he will do some 1.3v benches soon :)

Card is beast!
 
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soulesschild said:
Isn't the VRM still too high? Been out of the GPU game for awhile now....
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"VRM temps are a bit high, but keep in mind this is with 1.4v...@1200/1500 after 30 mins loop"

In the second screen, you got more realistic load/oc vrm are only @71c :)
 
Can any mod transfer my few last posts in the 290 Tri X oc thread? this is 290X Tri x...they share the same design, but still.
 
soulesschild said:
Isn't the VRM still too high? Been out of the GPU game for awhile now....
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VRM temps on my old XFX reference 6970 at stock speeds were regularly around 115C with ambient temps ~68F. I agree that's dangerously toasty but I never had any problems with it.
 
edge929 said:
VRM temps on my old XFX reference 6970 at stock speeds were regularly around 115C with ambient temps ~68F. I agree that's dangerously toasty but I never had any problems with it.
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Depending on the exact component most are at max spec when at 125C.
85-95C is nothing for most VRMs.
 
FrameBuffer said:
FYI in stock @ Newegg,. even at inflated prices still cheaper than than the 780Tis from Microcenter.. matchest the cheapest Tis in price while also matching performance, cooler, quieter...not much to complain bout , now hoping nV gets back in the game and offers up some price drops.

Oh yeah.. found another Double IPA I like.. and a nice robust oak aged IPA (Dogfish Burton baton)
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Considering the MSRP of the 290x is $550, and any cooler better than reference is going to run anywhere from $70-$100, a $50 mining inflation is not that bad at $699
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
290 Tri-X is $450 MSRP so the 290x should be $600.
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MSRP is just that, suggested from manufacturer. Even when R9's first came out, retailers were charging 20-30 above MSRP. The sad part is people will continue to pay the inflated prices, so I doubt they will come down anytime soon.
 
iGrooCk said:
MSRP is just that, suggested from manufacturer. Even when R9's first came out, retailers were charging 20-30 above MSRP. The sad part is people will continue to pay the inflated prices, so I doubt they will come down anytime soon.
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Yet Newegg was letting you get 5% off of them, and hence people were paying what $386 for 290's...

I think I might just camp a 780 GHz...
 
I picked up one of these for $700. RMA'd the Gigabyte 290x Windforce.

Wouldn't be surprised if these hit $800. Its a $550 dollar card with an $80-100 cooler. I don't feel terrible about the purchase.
 
1erCru said:
I picked up one of these for $700. RMA'd the Gigabyte 290x Windforce.

Wouldn't be surprised if these hit $800. Its a $550 dollar card with an $80-100 cooler. I don't feel terrible about the purchase.
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Ditto, matches the performance of the Gigabyte 780Ti yet over $100 cheaper in comparison to local Microcenter, returned the 780Ti, saved over $100 with shipping included AND got 4 games for free.. can't complain.
 
LL



Tri X is a beast

1. Sapphire's Tri-X OC Radeon R9 290X maintains open-air performance levels even in a closed chassis. More specifically, the board sheds .4% of its average framerate, which is within a margin of error.

2. Asus' R9 290X DirectCU II OC fares worse,losing 8% of its performance in the closed case.

3. Gigabyte lands in the middle. Its R9 290X Windforce OC sacrifices 4% when we get it running in our Enermax enclosure. That's alright, but not nearly as good as Sapphire's effort.
 
Sodapopjones said:
Yet Newegg was letting you get 5% off of them, and hence people were paying what $386 for 290's...

I think I might just camp a 780 GHz...
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minus $25-30 for selling the included bf4 key so it was really about $360.... and then you unlock it to a 290x and overclock the crap out of it. That's what I did anyway.
 
psyside said:
LL



Tri X is a beast

1. Sapphire's Tri-X OC Radeon R9 290X maintains open-air performance levels even in a closed chassis. More specifically, the board sheds .4% of its average framerate, which is within a margin of error.

2. Asus' R9 290X DirectCU II OC fares worse,losing 8% of its performance in the closed case.

3. Gigabyte lands in the middle. Its R9 290X Windforce OC sacrifices 4% when we get it running in our Enermax enclosure. That's alright, but not nearly as good as Sapphire's effort.
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Looks like Sapphire needs to start selling air coolers, LOL

Too bad the PCB is almost entirely reference...
 
45454asasa said:
Looks like Sapphire needs to start selling air coolers, LOL

Too bad the PCB is almost entirely reference...
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Some of us like reference :)
http://www.xtremerigs.net/2014/01/01/r9-290x-gpu-block-performance-summary/

Looks like cooling the backside of the card in addition to the front can really drop the VRM temps (to under 25c according to this review).
Kind of pricey though @ $50 more for the active VRM cooler. I'm sure one of these companies could design an air cooler with a heatpipe that does the same thing for less money.

It would also have me thinking that a simple Q-tip mod could drastically drop temps if anyone wants to try. Just cut 2 Q-tips in 1/2 pop them into a 120mm fan, plug it in, and stand it up it over the VRM on the backside of the card.
 
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Wow, that active VRM cooler is pretty neat.

And yes putting a fan on the backside of the PCB reduces temps almost 10c. I use(d) an intel heatsink fan, with the clips on the sides. broke one clip so it angled itself to blow the air across the whole PCB and wala, 10c lower VRM1 and VRM2 for a 7950.
 
45454asasa said:
Looks like Sapphire needs to start selling air coolers, LOL

Too bad the PCB is almost entirely reference...
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Reference PCB on 290/290X has very high class iR based mosfets, the chokes on the other hand are decent but not great. Anyway Tri X has more then enough power for ~1250/1600 + you will be limited by the bin, far more from the power delivery, so its all good ;)
 
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45454asasa said:
Wow, that active VRM cooler is pretty neat.

And yes putting a fan on the backside of the PCB reduces temps almost 10c. I use(d) an intel heatsink fan, with the clips on the sides. broke one clip so it angled itself to blow the air across the whole PCB and wala, 10c lower VRM1 and VRM2 for a 7950.
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Think it's worth $55 though?
 
psyside said:
Reference PCB on 290/290X has very high class iR based mosfets, the chokes on the other hand are decent but not great. Anyway Tri X has more then enough power for 1250/1600 + you will be limited by the bin, far more from the power delivery, so its all good ;)
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Hm, my problem is the buzzing. I figure some way a custom card can avoid that, no?

Also, maybe its my PSU, but with voltages > +150mV, my card starts to act funky. It can run furmark/OCCT error check or anything of that sort fine but I get crazy artifacts in games (yet, these clocks are stable with low voltages)
 
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