R9 290x Crossfire: VRM1 Temp @ 116C, Should I be concerned?

Igg

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So the VRM1 of the top XFX DD 290x is @ 116C when I'm gaming.

Should I be concerned of it dying an early death here?

Ambient Temp: 22C

I even cranked all case fans to 100% (4x Gelid 140MM fans in take and 4 exhaust) so the case is getting plenty of air flow.

I even ghetto mounted another 140mm fan on the side to blow directly onto the back of the GPUs with the case open, temp went down to 113C but that's still ungodly high or safe?



EDIT UPDATE:

I forgot to mention initially that I have edited the fan curve with MSI after burner to go to 100% after GPU temp is 70C.

I have also switched the cards around per some of the suggestions and still the same effect so it's not a card issue.

Here is the read out from my logitech keyboard.
I have annotated the grouping. As you can see the VR1 = VRM1 of top card (1st column) was reading around 114C in this pic and the card is throttling down to 899MHZ as opposed to the full speed of 1075MHZ,
GPU temp was also 94C

 
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Gosh that seems awful hot... What are the VRMs on the bottom card? you switch em around yet?

If they aren't acting similarly, then the hot card should probably go. What kinda options do you have anyway?
 
How did I know these were going to be XFX DD cards before I opened the thread?:mad::mad:..

These cards have POS cooling..The best thing you can do is buy a set of full cover GPU blocks since you apparently have a full WC'ing loop up there.
 
As far as I know most of the other brand has nothing on the back for the vrm anyway so why would it be any different.
 
Gosh that seems awful hot... What are the VRMs on the bottom card? you switch em around yet?

If they aren't acting similarly, then the hot card should probably go. What kinda options do you have anyway?

That's a good idea I can switch them tomorrow to try.

I'm still within my 30 days of purchase
 
The DD's are thin but they don't seem to perform well in CF on air. I'm guessing also that you are using the stock fan profile. I would switch the cards top to bottom, and install MSI afterburner if you haven't already. If you are overclocking CF 290s it's probably overkill, just go stock and see how it goes for a few hours/day or two. Important thing: custom fan curve--ramp up the fans higher because they are probably trying to stay quiet and causing high temps. I had the same basic heat profile you are getting with my 280x/7950 Frankenfire setup and the guy I sold the 7950 to had to get me to RMA it for him a few months later, been meaning to ask him if the replacement is still running--still breathing sigh of relief Powercolor came through on that one, only reason I went for the PCS+ 290x besides the good reviews. I'm getting 74C on the hottest VRM after 15 min of 2560X1440 furmark with 4xMSAA (it's the same, even if I turn MSAA off though, more fps isn't always hotter), Granted this is one card and it has a 2.5 slot cooler. If I put another one right next to it they would suffer badly I'm sure.
 
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You'll get a lot better VRM cooling if you put that side fan right up against the video cards near the VRMs.

I'd expect at least another 15C to come off.

EDIT. You might want to remove the GPU shrouds for better targeted VRM cooling from your extra fan.
 
Too high for comfort. You are approaching their thermal limit. Try reversing them as suggested.
 
Updated the original post also with below for those are new to the thread:

I forgot to mention initially that I have edited the fan curve with MSI after burner to go to 100% after GPU temp is 70C.

I have also switched the cards around per some of the suggestions and still the same effect so it's not a card issue.

Here is the read out from my logitech keyboard.
I have annotated the grouping. As you can see the VR1 = VRM1 of top card (1st column) was reading around 114C in this pic and the card is throttling down to 899MHZ as opposed to the full speed of 1075MHZ,
GPU temp was also 90C

 
Last time I ran SLI I used a Dwood bracket and an AIO cooler on the top card, brought its temps down below that of second card. If your loop can handle it Id say get a block for your upper card . If not the G10 with a cheap AIO and VRM cooling will work just fine
 
It seems that some select cards have very poor vram cooling. I have 290's on crossfire, and both cards, and both vrm 1 and 2, do not exceed 60 degrees under full load. I believe that the blower style cooler is optimal for our cards, since such a massive amount of hot air comes out my case from the cards. It is obvious that expelling that heat into a case is not optimal. They should make an aftermarket blower style cooler for these amd cards; I believe it would lead to the best temperature control.
 
forget the VRM, the gpu is @ 100 shouldn' it throttle to reduce temps? are both fans actaully spinning ? it seems like only one of the two fans on the top card is spinning by those temps.
 
forget the VRM, the gpu is @ 100 shouldn' it throttle to reduce temps? are both fans actaully spinning ? it seems like only one of the two fans on the top card is spinning by those temps.

GPU temps are at 94 for top the card, yes both fans are going, the 100 at the top that you see is the load.
 
Last time I ran SLI I used a Dwood bracket and an AIO cooler on the top card, brought its temps down below that of second card. If your loop can handle it Id say get a block for your upper card . If not the G10 with a cheap AIO and VRM cooling will work just fine

Yes but the G10 will only deal with the VRMs that are on the same side as the die,

VRM1 is on the back of the card as far as I know.
 
Have you taken the card apart and tried to modify the way the VRMs are cooled?

the VRMs run hot on 290x cards, hell everything runs hot

I think xfx is one of the companies that doesn't void the warranty if you take off the cooler, someone else may correct me, if I am wrong on that one it's unintentional.
 
Have you taken the card apart and tried to modify the way the VRMs are cooled?

the VRMs run hot on 290x cards, hell everything runs hot

I think xfx is one of the companies that doesn't void the warranty if you take off the cooler, someone else may correct me, if I am wrong on that one it's unintentional.

It's not the problem with the front cooler, the issue is with the VRM that's on the back of the card.
 
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Thanks I've though of that, but sadly my experiences in the past with tape and heatsinks don't last long.

I remembered all my vram sinks falling off after installing an accelero cooler on my 7970

The Enzotech one stick on really well and are good at dissipating heat.

I would get the tall one instead of the low profile ones that he linked: http://www.amazon.com/ENZOTECH-Memo..._sim_pc_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=0W698SGX72RAXCEN35YK

The people in the DC section use them to protect $500 server motherboards as do I.
 
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Almost all 3rd party vrm cooling is garbage for these cards. I don't understand why it's so difficult. The reference cooler keeps VRM's the coolest, but the GPU runs super hot.

I took it upon myself to combine the best of both worlds to great effect. http://imgur.com/a/dl3Jt
 
Almost all 3rd party vrm cooling is garbage for these cards. I don't understand why it's so difficult. The reference cooler keeps VRM's the coolest, but the GPU runs super hot.

I took it upon myself to combine the best of both worlds to great effect. http://imgur.com/a/dl3Jt

except that won't work on his cards, which are not reference.

FTR I also did the same thing, but with an Accelero EX3
 
Cool thanks I will definitely have to give them a whirl. 20 bucks for 8 ram sinks seems steep, but that beats a fried $500 card I suppose.

How much room do you have under those heatsinks? At those temps it makes me think that nothing is on those VRMs at all.

I also ran into some problems with VRM heat. See my post here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1821910

Adding these VRM heatsinks benefited me a lot : http://www.feppaspot.com/servlet/th...ik8Cv9UMhRwikVWUgaQvVejyy47_8sap-DguCOCvD_BwE

EDIT:

REMOVED


EDIT EDIT:
Im guessing you have no room:
14.jpg


I'm willing to bet there is poor contact with this design on the VRM (notice how they used different material for VRM 1 and VRM2) which causes it to get so hot. My VRMs didnt get that hot and that was without heatsinks!

One option you may have is to remove the plate that xfx ships with the cooler and use the GELID vrm heatsinks with your stock cooler. There were a lot of people who did this with the MSI 7950/7970s and had great results.
 
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Typical of the XFX DD. If you read some reviews, most mention VRM1 runs hot. The one I tried ran 105 under stress and I returned it.
 
At first I was worried that my card was going to bite the dust, then I got a different case and changed my fans, now the VRM's stay under 100c@ stock volts.

That being said, the closer we get to the next gen, the closer I'm going to get to turning up the voltage...
 
How much room do you have under those heatsinks? At those temps it makes me think that nothing is on those VRMs at all.

I also ran into some problems with VRM heat. See my post here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1821910

Adding these VRM heatsinks benefited me a lot : http://www.feppaspot.com/servlet/th...ik8Cv9UMhRwikVWUgaQvVejyy47_8sap-DguCOCvD_BwE

EDIT:

Also, you have that fan placed on the wrong VRM. The VRM that gets really hot in in the front of the card. Try moving the fan there and see.
353ehz4.png



EDIT EDIT:
Im guessing you have no room:
14.jpg


I'm willing to bet there is poor contact with this design on the VRM (notice how they used different material for VRM 1 and VRM2) which causes it to get so hot. My VRMs didnt get that hot and that was without heatsinks!

One option you may have is to remove the plate that xfx ships with the cooler and use the GELID vrm heatsinks with your stock cooler. There were a lot of people who did this with the MSI 7950/7970s and had great results.

Wait wait. Vrm 1 is on the front ? I was going off legit review where they placed a fan on the back to help so I assumed that vrm1 on the back if card where there is no cooling at all
 
Almost all 3rd party vrm cooling is garbage for these cards. I don't understand why it's so difficult. The reference cooler keeps VRM's the coolest, but the GPU runs super hot.

I took it upon myself to combine the best of both worlds to great effect. http://imgur.com/a/dl3Jt

The reason the reference cards keep the VRMs cool is because the single fan blows cool air over the VRMs directly before the air reaches much else, I think.

Sick mod, though. What kind of overclocks can you hit with that setup? It would be nice to see that with the Accelero Xtreme cooler, which I would think is slightly superior to the Gelid. Have you seen the Accelero Xtreme IV, which has a pretty neat VRM setup for the 290/290x. http://geizhals.de/arctic-cooling-accelero-xtreme-iv-dcaco-v800001-gba01-a1070346.html Flick throguh the images for a better view of it.
 
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Wait wait. Vrm 1 is on the front ? I was going off legit review where they placed a fan on the back to help so I assumed that vrm1 on the back if card where there is no cooling at all

I was 99.9% positive, but now im not so sure anymore :confused:

My reasoning is from when I installed the Kraken G10.

The G10 came with a fan that blows over VRM 2. With no heatsinks and only a 92mm fan blowing directly on it, that VRM stayed under 80C. It was the the other VRM which had no fan and no heatsinks on top of it that hit 100C. By adding just a tiny heatsink to both VRMs I was able to reduce temps by over 20C. I was also going by an old post (EDIT: which is apparently wrong) on how the 7970 VRM location was.

However, I could be completely wrong.
 
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The reason the reference cards keep the VRMs cool is because the single fan blows cool air over the VRMs directly before the air reaches much else, I think.

Sick mod, though. What kind of overclocks can you hit with that setup? It would be nice to see that with the Accelero Xtreme cooler, which I would think is slightly superior to the Gelid. Have you seen the Accelero Xtreme IV, which has a pretty neat VRM setup for the 290/290x. http://geizhals.de/arctic-cooling-accelero-xtreme-iv-dcaco-v800001-gba01-a1070346.html Flick throguh the images for a better view of it.

The overclock I get is nothing special. 1100/1350. I was 1100/1400, but ever since updating to the 14.6 drivers, I get horizontal flickering lines at 1400mhz on the memory. Oh well.
 
I was 99.9% positive, but now im not so sure anymore :confused:

My reasoning is from when I installed the Kraken G10.

The G10 came with a fan that blows over VRM 2. With no heatsinks and only a 92mm fan blowing directly on it, that VRM stayed under 80C. It was the the other VRM which had no fan and no heatsinks on top of it that hit 100C. By adding just a tiny heatsink to both VRMs I was able to reduce temps by over 20C. I was also going by an old post on how the 7970 VRM location was.

However, I could be completely wrong.

See this page
http://www.legitreviews.com/xfx-radeon-r9-290-double-dissipation-video-card-review_138612/12

They had their fan on the back although looks like they could be trying to blow on the back of vrm1?
 
Yeah, the Accelero Xtreme III is a fantastic cooler, sinks glued to the VRMs keep them at good temps.
Not the best idea for 2 cards in XFire unless you have the space and case airflow.
Room temp 23C

Heaven 4.0
Idle
GPU 37C
VRM1 31C
VRM2 32C

load
GPU 63C
VRM1 68C
VRM2 54C

 
Yeah, the Accelero Xtreme III is a fantastic cooler, sinks glued to the VRMs keep them at good temps.
Not the best idea for 2 cards in XFire unless you have the space and case airflow.
Room temp 23C

Heaven 4.0
Idle
GPU 37C
VRM1 31C
VRM2 32C

load
GPU 63C
VRM1 68C
VRM2 54C

Nenu,
Does your accelero have any cooling on the backside of the card?
 
Not specifically, the back of the card is bare apart from the clamp for the GPU heatsink.

I have an 80mm fan blowing directly on my system ram, this is sat on top of the gfx card.
There is some residual airflow from that.
It makes little difference, I can do another test without it if you wish.
 
Did the test anyway.
18 minute run, temps have levelled out for about 10 mins.

load
GPU 63C
VRM1 75C
VRM2 55C

The sensor number appear to be reversed according to the diagram higher up the page.
The fan was close to larger block of VRMs, so that is VRM1 according to GPU-Z.

Well that made more difference than I anticipated (7C for the large block of VRMs).
A fan blowing over the back of the card may be very useful.

Put the fan back in place, within 4 mins VRM1 dropped to 68C again.
 
The overclock I get is nothing special. 1100/1350. I was 1100/1400, but ever since updating to the 14.6 drivers, I get horizontal flickering lines at 1400mhz on the memory. Oh well.

My cards did the same thing. Same clocks too. Had my memory a little high but had to bring it down to 1350 to get rid of the lines.
 
people, that picture is backwards.

I dont know why people keep reposting it.

VRM1 is on the right, VRM2 is on the left.
 
@OP
That's definitely a lot higher than it should be. Sure, many VRMs are speced out as high as 140C, but it's not good for the longevity of the card. And no, that is not normal even for a 290X. Although most other brands have pretty awful VRM cooling save for reference, it's not as bad as the one in your image.

How did I know these were going to be XFX DD cards before I opened the thread?:mad::mad:..

These cards have POS cooling..The best thing you can do is buy a set of full cover GPU blocks since you apparently have a full WC'ing loop up there.

XFX I know last generation (HD 7970) from their Double Dissipation series of coolers did not put in any cooling for the VRMs. I'm finding that a common trend among a lot of these GPU manufacturers, not putting in adequate VRM cooling and focusing purely on the core, or focusing on silence.

Lately though, they seem to be improving their customer service. Let's just hope product quality too gets a buff in the near future.

Almost all 3rd party vrm cooling is garbage for these cards. I don't understand why it's so difficult. The reference cooler keeps VRM's the coolest, but the GPU runs super hot.

I took it upon myself to combine the best of both worlds to great effect. http://imgur.com/a/dl3Jt

I think that the MSI 290X Lightning has some pretty decent VRM cooling, at least for a third party solution.

cooler5.jpg


Yeah I have a third party cooled r9 290, so I'm thinking about doing something about it too, although my VRMs actually run cooler right now than my core, so it may not be worth the trouble.

Temperature right now in my room is 27C.

Edit: Yeah I checked, probably not worth the trouble.
Temps+at+Idle.jpg
 
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Finding it irritating the 295x2 has no VRM temp sensor. My MSI x2 throttles a little around 70C. I'm having to order a new case add fans and change config.
 
@Igg, quick question, have you tried reversing your side fan so that it is an exhaust fan?

These are axial coolers, so they suck in air through the shroud, blow it against the PCB, and vent the hot air back into the case. You might get better temps if you reverse the side fan as exhaust.
 
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