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I got the Sapphire R9 290 over a month ago and on Friday got the second one for Xfire. I'm using GPU-Z to track clocks and temps. I found that watching TV in Xfire in Media Center runs the primary card at max memory and GPU clock and quickly maxes out the temp in the 90's while speeding up the fan to over 40%. In single card operation, GPU clock stays about 300 MHz with memory still max, but temps stay in the 70s with fan remaining at 20%. Is this typical that non-3D applications like TV and browser video pick up GPU clocks higher in Xfire than single? I don't remember this issue with 7950s in xfire although some clocks were higher with those too but never the temp issues with the 290s. I'm also running triple monitors and I remember that kept base clocks generally higher but not maxing out in non-game apps previously. GPU load in all cases is single digits regardless of clocks.
I must have bad air flow in my Antec P 182 case because initial testing in Heaven ran OK with some throttling the first time, but the second run was only 40% fps better than single because the throttling dropped GPU clocks to the 600s. Taking the case side off helped a lot with a house fan blowing to test it, but I can't operate that way all the time. I ordered a replacement side panel with the thought of cutting a hole for a side fan for the video cards.
I initially installed an Artic Extreme 3 in the first card and it worked well, but I removed it with the new card arriving for Xfire because it takes so much space. I'm thinking of putting it back on if the primary card is going to cook with things I do all the time like watching TV on one of my monitors and browsing on the others. I'm wondering if Xfire is worth it on these cards. I'm not getting the good results Kyle has on his 290x Xfire setup.
I must have bad air flow in my Antec P 182 case because initial testing in Heaven ran OK with some throttling the first time, but the second run was only 40% fps better than single because the throttling dropped GPU clocks to the 600s. Taking the case side off helped a lot with a house fan blowing to test it, but I can't operate that way all the time. I ordered a replacement side panel with the thought of cutting a hole for a side fan for the video cards.
I initially installed an Artic Extreme 3 in the first card and it worked well, but I removed it with the new card arriving for Xfire because it takes so much space. I'm thinking of putting it back on if the primary card is going to cook with things I do all the time like watching TV on one of my monitors and browsing on the others. I'm wondering if Xfire is worth it on these cards. I'm not getting the good results Kyle has on his 290x Xfire setup.
