R9 290x Aftermarket Coolers?

K

kyriptic

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
185
Curious if anyone knows of any non-reference coolers available for the 290x? Would like something like the closed corsair water coolers, but for the 290X instead of cpu. Are there any really good just fan replacements?
 
I would suggest not going this route because it isn't cost effective, and isn't effective at cooling VRMs. I've used accelero coolers in the past and they're great at cooling the core, but fairly marginal (IMO) at cooling the VRM area. I don't know if newer accelero models change this, but that is how things were a year or so ago.

Also, the cost is pretty steep; accelero's cost around 80-90$. What I would do is simply wait for an aftermarket card and simply buy that instead - it is more cost effective and chances are, you'll get a more robust cooler that has coverage on the core, VRM, and memory.
 
hmm... valid point about the VRM's not getting good coverage. How about full water blocks route that seems like such a hassle though... and the maintenance.
 
Full water blocks are the best cooling possible but also the highest cost. Unless you like to hang on to your cards for a long time, or noise is of the utmost importance, it may not be ideal.

I picked up Accelero coolers for my 290X cards but haven't installed them yet.
 
I have been thinking about going the aftermarket cooler route as well. However, I was going to go with the Gelid Icy Vision Rev 2 because it comes with all of the VRM heatsinks for the 290/290x
 
Dr3amCast said:
I have been thinking about going the aftermarket cooler route as well. However, I was going to go with the Gelid Icy Vision Rev 2 because it comes with all of the VRM heatsinks for the 290/290x
Click to expand...
I also would try replacing the TIM prior to buying a heatsink. Tests have shown large drops which might be enough to get it below the annoying fan mode :)
 
Vengance_01 said:
I also would try replacing the TIM prior to buying a heatsink. Tests have shown large drops which might be enough to get it below the annoying fan mode :)
Click to expand...

I actually did have a question about this...I was going to create a thread with my questions about replacing the cooler, but since it came up. I have always just used Arctic Silver 5 for my CPU's, however, I've heard it shouldn't be used on the gpu? If I replaced my cooler I was going to buy Arctic Ceramique 2. Is that a good choice? Also, is the process of cleaning the gpu similar to cleaning a cpu?
 
Dr3amCast said:
I actually did have a question about this...I was going to create a thread with my questions about replacing the cooler, but since it came up. I have always just used Arctic Silver 5 for my CPU's, however, I've heard it shouldn't be used on the gpu? If I replaced my cooler I was going to buy Arctic Ceramique 2. Is that a good choice? Also, is the process of cleaning the gpu similar to cleaning a cpu?
Click to expand...

Gelic GC Extreme and Artic MX-4 are going to be your best traditional thermal paste right now, since you are planning on buying some. Artic Silver 5 is fine but a bit older and isn't topping the charts for thermal paste performance, though a couple of degrees C isn't a deal breaker for most users.

I clean both the same way. Take some +90% rubbing alcohol and wet a paper towel with it to get most of the old paste off, use a handful of q-tips dipped in said alcohol to get the rest and clean up around the area.
 
I should have my paste coming in tomorrow. I am going to use Gelic GC Extreme. Keep you posted on numbers.
 
LordEC911 said:
Gelic GC Extreme and Artic MX-4 are going to be your best traditional thermal paste right now, since you are planning on buying some

I clean both the same way. Take some +90% rubbing alcohol and wet a paper towel with it to get most of the old paste off, use a handful of q-tips dipped in said alcohol to get the rest and clean up around the area.
Click to expand...

In the event I do go with Icy Vision, do you clean the vrm the same way, or do I need to buy thermal paste removal materials?


Vengance_01 said:
I should have my paste coming in tomorrow. I am going to use Gelic GC Extreme. Keep you posted on numbers.
Click to expand...

That would be great thanks! I got a coupon code email from Newegg so I went ahead and purchased some Arctic MX-4.
 
My 290 is running as a 290x with the Accelero Xtreme III cooler.
I put the L shaped heatsinks on my VRMs and temps are fine.

At stock 290x clocks, stock volts, max VRM temp pretty much mirrors my core temp, 50 to 55C under load.
At +100mV, max VRM temp is about 70 to 75C.
Pretty good.

One VRM is always hotter than the other by about 5C to 10C under load (measured with GPU-z).
The above is the highest temp VRM.
 
I have a Gelid Icy Vision on my 290X. Max temps I've seen has been 57c on the GPU, 58c on VRM1, 45c on VRM2, using the heatsinks it came with. I do have a side fan on my case blowing onto the card. Took a while to install it, but it wasn't exceptionally difficult or anything.
 
Habibus said:
I have a Gelid Icy Vision on my 290X. Max temps I've seen has been 57c on the GPU, 58c on VRM1, 45c on VRM2, using the heatsinks it came with. I do have a side fan on my case blowing onto the card. Took a while to install it, but it wasn't exceptionally difficult or anything.
Click to expand...

Which version? One is much more expensive.

Nevermind: I see which one is correct and I see newegg price-butt-cramming again.
 
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i just use the accerlero hybrid, dont use the plastic shroud and its only 2 slots so you can fit 3 in a case easy
 
I have my gelid installed. waaaayyyy quieter than stock. only paid $35 for it before the crazy price hikes.

unfortunately, vrm1 cooling is a little lacking. needs better sinks..it wasnt really designed for this TDP.

at 1100 core +50mv , core is around 80c, and vrm1 is around 90c, which is acceptable, but it would be nice if vrm1 was lower.
 
The Mac said:
I have my gelid installed. waaaayyyy quieter than stock. only paid $35 for it before the crazy price hikes.

unfortunately, vrm1 cooling is a little lacking. needs better sinks..it wasnt really designed for this TDP.

at 1100 core +50mv , core is around 80c, and vrm1 is around 90c, which is acceptable, but it would be nice if vrm1 was lower.
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That's pretty high temp on the core for an aftermarket cooler.
 
im using the header on the card...

80c is not high for this card, considering its designed to run at 95c..

that a 15c drop with a 153mhz OC...

at stock, its runs around 72c
 
Budwise said:
How's the noise on the Gelid? As quiet as the Accellero?
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My Gelid is actually a little louder than the stock cooler was. It's a constant noise, whereas the stock would obviously get louder with more play, to about where the Gelid is all the time. I have it plugged directly into the card and it's fans are at 4200RPM. It's overkill for the airflow in my case. I need to downvolt the fans to make them spin slower. I'm happy with it though, for the price ($35 before they were sold out all the time). I can't complain. I got a cool running 290X for $435. (Unlocked a XFX 290 to a 290X). Being an early adopter works in your favor sometimes.
 
Does anyone know where we can get decent VRM coolers for these cards in the USA? The only one I've seen people have been using, is some part manufactured in Germany and only available in Europe? I looked at some of my old video cards to see if I could cannibalize one and take a VRM cooler off but no luck.. For now I'm using the crappy one that came with the Gelid.
 
Finally got my paste from frozen cpu. 2-3 day priory turned into 12 days. Will be doing some test this weekend. I should have before and after temps.

EDIT redid my paste on my cards. Stock paste is hard and crap. I can tell you it makes a big difference. I don't have hard numbers but I can tell you that doing scrypt mining with GPU @ 100% usage on each card, I only need 51% fan speed to keep temps @ 90C. Now this may seem high, but I used to need 60-65% fan speed to maintain these temperatures. So that's a 10% in fan speed. I am guessing I should be able to stay under 45% fan speeds in CF gaming which would move these cards back into the realm of quite. Anyone on the fence I would recommend this first prior to getting an aftermarket cooler. The stock cooler is not as bad as people think. I used GEILD GC-E version 3 paste.
 
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the sinks werent near enough on VRM1, peaking at 110C in heaven!11!!1 I dremeled the stock HSF in half for the VRM section and zip tied a 120mm over, now theyre not going over 50C 8). Dont think my core is much good though, using an asus 290x bios and gpu tweak, volts maxed at 1412 I can only run 1150 in heaven without artifacting
 
how much of the vrm section did you use?

it goes all the way back to the fan support...
 
Just the end near the power connections, from the VRM1 line back to the end of the card. I used the enzotech sinks on VRM2, theyre enough for that.
 
Hey Hamateer, if it is not too much trouble would you mind putting up some pics of how you have your card setup?
 
I'll put my two cents here. I just installed Accelero Xtreme 3 on my mining R9 290 running @ 1000 Mhz. Temps after 12 hours are 56c on the core and 79c on VRM 1.

I don't know if that's a good VRM temp or not after 12 solid hours of 100 percent usage @ 800 Khs. I think it is. It was perhaps a few degrees less with the stock cooler VRM1. I used all the aluminum crap the Xtreme came with, set-it up to 12v as per their website. I saw the bad press about the VRM cooling of the X3 and was skeptical.. Thought I was going to need to hacksaw the stock cooler. Truth be told... It's like fucking jesus for a 290. No underclocking, undervolting, under power targeting, etc. and I can barely hear it. It's quite remarkable.

I don't know how AMD can engineer a microchip but not a decent HSF. I guess it's a scam for their board partners to make a few bucks with better coolers. I might even game with this card now...

not really.;)
 
mining wont load the card the same way as gaming.

VRM temps will always be lower mining as you arent rendering anything onscreen
 
crap double post sorry... meant to edit the last post.
The Mac said:
mining wont load the card the same way as gaming.

VRM temps will always be lower mining as you arent rendering anything onscreen
Click to expand...

*edit* yeah DX11 fuzzy MSI kicks the crap out of VRM1. 105c. I have no idea what that temp would be with the stock cooler. I doubt it it would be much better, if not worse.

Ran some heaven 4.0 and didn't see a problem. So as long I don't play DX11 fuzzy MSI for extended periods of time I should be good. It's a cool game though.
 
proboly a bit better, vrm1 cooling on the artic and gelid isnt very good.

as long as you use vsync with games that render over 60fps, it wont fully load, and it wont be an issue.
 
The Mac said:
proboly a bit better, vrm1 cooling on the artic and gelid isnt very good.

as long as you use vsync with games that render over 60fps, it wont fully load, and it wont be an issue.
Click to expand...

I got a 144 hz monitor that I could use it with. To be honest, I would do more testing, but I even have my Classys hashing right now... so I dunno. Don't want the down time. I might end up having to dremel that stock cooler anyway if I want to game with it. Rig another fan on it or whatever.
 
spacin9 said:
I'll put my two cents here. I just installed Accelero Xtreme 3 on my mining R9 290 running @ 1000 Mhz. Temps after 12 hours are 56c on the core and 79c on VRM 1.

I don't know if that's a good VRM temp or not after 12 solid hours of 100 percent usage @ 800 Khs. I think it is. It was perhaps a few degrees less with the stock cooler VRM1. I used all the aluminum crap the Xtreme came with, set-it up to 12v as per their website. I saw the bad press about the VRM cooling of the X3 and was skeptical.. Thought I was going to need to hacksaw the stock cooler. Truth be told... It's like fucking jesus for a 290. No underclocking, undervolting, under power targeting, etc. and I can barely hear it. It's quite remarkable.

I don't know how AMD can engineer a microchip but not a decent HSF. I guess it's a scam for their board partners to make a few bucks with better coolers. I might even game with this card now...

not really.;)
Click to expand...

You should be getting much more at 1000Mhz core. Try 1000 core/1500 memory.
 
KENNYB said:
You should be getting much more at 1000Mhz core. Try 1000 core/1500 memory.
Click to expand...

Post your CGminer.conf or .bat People have magic powers of hashing that I do not possess. I wish to have these powers.
 
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spacin9 said:
Post your CGminer.conf or .bat People have magic powers of hashing that I do not possess. I wish to have these powers.
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I have no powers. Even worse, I have negative powers due to age. I'll post when I get home. Most people who post how to get a high hashing rate on a 290 forget to post the fan speed. It will be at least 70%. But that won't affect you and your fancy cooler.

I named this 290.conf and call it from a .bat file.

{
"pools" : [
{
"url" : "stratum+tcp://some.address:3333",
"user" : "yourussrname.user",
"pass" : "password"
}
]
,
"intensity" : "20",
"vectors" : "1",
"worksize" : "256",
"kernel" : "scrypt",
"lookup-gap" : "2",
"thread-concurrency" : "24550",
"temp-cutoff" : "99",
"temp-overheat" : "95",
"temp-target" : "90",

"api-mcast-port" : "4028",
"api-port" : "4028",
"expiry" : "120",
"failover-only" : true,
"gpu-threads" : "1",

"log" : "5",
"no-pool-disable" : true,
"queue" : "1",
"scan-time" : "60",
"temp-hysteresis" : "3",

"scrypt" : true,
"kernel-path" : "/usr/local/bin"
}

Not all GPUs are equal. Another guy got 900khs from this. I can't set the gpu clock, voltage, or memory clock from cgminer. Instead, I use afterburner to set 1000/1500. I can undervolt just a tad, but it doesn't make much, if any, difference as seen on a kill a watt. Good luck.
 
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Yeah... I tried to overclock, KENNY. In my opinion.. there's a balance of heat, power, Khs. There's diminishing returns when you try to send these beasts into overtime. I have five video cards in three rigs. Four of them are underpowered, undervolted and underclocked. I like my GPUs under 80c. I'll let them get as high as 85c and then I'll do something to reel them in. I like to see flat lines with my monitoring software. I don't want peaks and valleys and jumping all over the place, trying to overclock with 20 intensity and getting an extra 30-50 Khs as I watch them slowly burn into oblivion, as some people will do.

What my fancy cooler is allowing me to do... is to mine without having to do anything... just leaving it at stock speeds and voltages. Which is worth it. Everything i've read and seen is that my R9 is about average. It gets 750-800 khs.. It's flatlined nicely with safe temps and I can't hear it. I'm fine with that.
 
I don't usually run those settings. I've settled for 800/1250 for 720khs and undervolted. Big difference in wattage used. It's almost 100W less than at my max settings. The fan setting is still somewhat high at 50%. Still less than a blow dryer.
 
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