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Overclocking 290

D

Dr3amCast

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 8, 2012
Messages
91
I just received my Gigabyte R9 290. I was lucky enough to get one before the price spike. I want to overclock it since my temps never really go over 65C even after multiple hours of gaming. I've never overclocked a graphics card before so I was wondering what programs are recommended / what speeds you guys have your OC'd 290's at?
 
Latest version of Afterburner 3.0.0 beta 17.
It lets you increase the power target and voltage if needed. (I'm not sure if the voltage can be changed on the stock 290, give it a try. If not a 290x bios will let you, even if you dont get the extra cores unlocked)
Set the power target to max before overclocking otherwise it may throttle.

I've got an aftermarket cooler. Modded with a 290x BIOS I got 1070MHz core 1470MHz memory, stock volts.
With +100mV on the core I get 1055MHz core, 1620MHz memory.
Higher core voltage gets you higher memory overclocks, it must push the memory voltage up too.
 
Nenu said:
Higher core voltage gets you higher memory overclocks, it must push the memory voltage up too.
Click to expand...

Nope, limiting factor to 290/290x memory speeds is typically going to be the memory controller which is on die. Increasing the core voltage increases the voltage to the MC which allows for a higher memory overclock.
 
Makes sense but I havent seen a diagram that confirms this architecture.
Got a link?
 
Gotcha.
Impressive that the memory chips can reach near 6.5Ghz without themselves having a voltage tweak.
 
Nenu said:
Latest version of Afterburner 3.0.0 beta 17.
It lets you increase the power target and voltage if needed. (I'm not sure if the voltage can be changed on the stock 290, give it a try. If not a 290x bios will let you, even if you dont get the extra cores unlocked)
Set the power target to max before overclocking otherwise it may throttle.

I've got an aftermarket cooler. Modded with a 290x BIOS I got 1070MHz core 1470MHz memory, stock volts.
With +100mV on the core I get 1055MHz core, 1620MHz memory.
Higher core voltage gets you higher memory overclocks, it must push the memory voltage up too.
Click to expand...

Okay great. Thanks a lot for the explanation. I was using afterburner for my fan profiles anyway, but I know some people prefer other programs like GPUTweak. I still have the stock cooler on but my case has good airflow, I just set the fan to 60%, keeps it under 66C. It idles around 38C. I'll look into the BIOS further, but I haven't seen any threads anywhere of people with Gigabyte 290's having successful flashes.

Will adjusting those set it to a fixed speed, or will it still lower the clocks down during casual use?
 
You have a reference 290? It's definitely going over 65 degrees under load... Even with max fan it would probably be 75 degrees plus under load.
 
Gumbi10 said:
You have a reference 290? It's definitely going over 65 degrees under load... Even with max fan it would probably be 75 degrees plus under load.
Click to expand...

I leave afterburner hardware monitor up while I play battlefield, and have it log the monitor. According to that at least, it's never hit 70C for me
 
do you play at 1080p or something? Seems like your gpu is probably not getting pegged at 100%
 
hes got an AMD CPU, hes probobly CPU bound so the GPU isnt getting saturated.

BF4 uses A LOT of cpu harsepower.
 
Dr3amCast said:
Okay great. Thanks a lot for the explanation. I was using afterburner for my fan profiles anyway, but I know some people prefer other programs like GPUTweak. I still have the stock cooler on but my case has good airflow, I just set the fan to 60%, keeps it under 66C. It idles around 38C. I'll look into the BIOS further, but I haven't seen any threads anywhere of people with Gigabyte 290's having successful flashes.

Will adjusting those set it to a fixed speed, or will it still lower the clocks down during casual use?
Click to expand...

The 290s always reduce clockspeeds no matter how you set it up.


You wont get an unsuccessful flash, you might not get the extra cores unlocked so it might not become a full 290x.
You can flick between BIOSs before powering the PC up if you want to compare.
Save one BIOS for default.
 
you can force clocks with certain applications.

but that defeats the purpose of powerplay 2.0
 
Kardonxt said:
do you play at 1080p or something? Seems like your gpu is probably not getting pegged at 100%
Click to expand...

Yes, I play on a 1080p 120hz display. In the early spring, maybe March, after hopefully this mining stuff dies down I want to pick up a second card and that 39" Seiki 4k tv to game on.


The Mac said:
hes got an AMD CPU, hes probobly CPU bound so the GPU isnt getting saturated.
Click to expand...

I honestly haven't looked at what my cpu load is in-game, I'll have to do that. I've been completely focused on what temps were, and if my card was staying at 947mhz under load

Nenu said:
You wont get an unsuccessful flash, you might not get the extra cores unlocked so it might not become a full 290x.
You can flick between BIOSs before powering the PC up if you want to compare.
Save one BIOS for default.
Click to expand...

Is that what that switch is for?? I'll have to look into that more and try it
 
Dr3amCast said:
Is that what that switch is for?? I'll have to look into that more and try it
Click to expand...

The reference 290 and 290x share the same pcb and components, the only difference is the GPU core and BIOS.
The switch is for the 290x to run 2 BIOS versions, one for silent fan (lower performance) and louder fan (max performance).
There are 2 BIOS memory spaces on all 290 cards.
On the standard 290, both BIOS versions are the same, there is no performance profile, so you can flash another BIOS to it.
 
I run the following settings on mine on air with afterburner:

Stock voltage, +50% power target, 1050 core and 1300 memory. My cards are also Gigabyte and it appears most of the Gigabyte 290's come with Hynix memory. My memory doesn't clock for crap though even if I add voltage, I get artifacts anywhere over 1300mhz on both cards.

Under water I run 1150 core with +13mv andthey are perfectly stable in everything.

Your CPU is holding that card back in BF4 multiplayer (my 290's were on a CHV-Z with 8350 originally but they were held back severely, 30% or more over my 3930k machine), but on a single card at 1050 I can run Ultra settings, 4xMSAA and 120% scaling and still get 45-55fps at 1080p in a 64 man map.
 
Nenu said:
There are 2 BIOS memory spaces on all 290 cards.
On the standard 290, both BIOS versions are the same, there is no performance profile, so you can flash another BIOS to it.
Click to expand...

LigTasm said:
I run the following settings on mine on air with afterburner:

Stock voltage, +50% power target, 1050 core and 1300 memory. My cards are also Gigabyte and it appears most of the Gigabyte 290's come with Hynix memory. My memory doesn't clock for crap though even if I add voltage, I get artifacts anywhere over 1300mhz on both cards.

Under water I run 1150 core with +13mv andthey are perfectly stable in everything.

Your CPU is holding that card back in BF4 multiplayer (my 290's were on a CHV-Z with 8350 originally but they were held back severely, 30% or more over my 3930k machine), but on a single card at 1050 I can run Ultra settings, 4xMSAA and 120% scaling and still get 45-55fps at 1080p in a 64 man map.
Click to expand...

Okay I'll try something similar out with my card. And that's interesting about the cpu. In reading some reviews such as this one below, it showed very similar performance between an i5 and the 8350 so I wasn't worried about a cpu bottleneck

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html
 
psyside said:
No, not the controller its the Elpida crap.
Click to expand...

How many Hynix and Elpida cards have you overclocked?
Both are rated to run 6Gbps @ 1.5v. You need to flash to loosen the timings or throw 1.6v at them while keeping the GPU cool while at a higher voltage bin to really let these memory ICs free.
 
Last edited:
my card has Hynix memory and i top out at 1400 MHz which is modest compared to others. i'm happy with it though. i don't think the memory vendor determines whether or not you'll get a high overclock. some cards just clock better than others.
 
most likely he has Vsync enabled, I also get low temps if I play with Vsync enabled.

and there is no way he's getting 120fps anyway, so there is no point using Vsync.
 
Dr3amCast said:
Okay I'll try something similar out with my card. And that's interesting about the cpu. In reading some reviews such as this one below, it showed very similar performance between an i5 and the 8350 so I wasn't worried about a cpu bottleneck

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html
Click to expand...

Those are single player and limited by the GPU. I don't notice much difference in the smaller servers but 32+ and my frame rates start dropping. Even with a 3930k at 4.9ghz and 290 crossfire at 1150mhz I still see dips into the 40's at times in some maps with a lot of action.
 
Porter_ said:
my card has Hynix memory and i top out at 1400 MHz which is modest compared to others. i'm happy with it though. i don't think the memory vendor determines whether or not you'll get a high overclock. some cards just clock better than others.
Click to expand...

Memory OC has a pretty negligible effect on performance anyway, Core is more important.
 
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