Graphic Card upgrade?!

Splender1 · 15-10-2014 6:45pm #1

Hi Lads, i recently bought this card but when i start to play graphically intensive games this card gets very loud. Properly doesn't help that there are 3 small fans with it. Anyway, i'm pretty disappointed since it cost a nice bit. And i dont wear headphones while gaming and the noise is very obvious.
Would it make a difference if i swapped this card for another card like the Asus GTX 970?

BloodBath · 15-10-2014 7:18pm

The 970 will be a good bit quieter alright.

What are your 290 load temps like? What's your case airflow like?

You should be able to reduce the noise of your current card by running custom fan profiles and/or undervolting/clocking it a little.

Splender1 · 15-10-2014 8:00pm

BloodBath wrote: »

The 970 will be a good bit quieter alright.

What are your 290 load temps like? What's your case airflow like?

You should be able to reduce the noise of your current card by running custom fan profiles and/or undervolting/clocking it a little.

Thanks for the help, Bloodbath. How would i create a custom fan profile?

Splender1 · 15-10-2014 8:25pm

I installed MSI Afterburner and set the fan speed to 40% but i guess if its set to such a low %, will this shorten the lifespan of the card or be bad for other components?

walshyp · 15-10-2014 9:16pm

As long as temps are fine it won't affect the lifespan of the card. What tool you using to monitor temps? Also what case do you?

Might be a case of under clocking the card slightly.

kingtiger · 15-10-2014 9:59pm

get something like this

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/r9-290-accelero-xtreme-290,3671-2.html

have a similar model on my 7870 and its barely audible at 100% fan speed and temps hit 60 degrees max under full load

Lu Tze · 15-10-2014 10:03pm

Splender1 wrote: »

I installed MSI Afterburner and set the fan speed to 40% but i guess if its set to such a low %, will this shorten the lifespan of the card or be bad for other components?

You need to set up a fan profile, so as the temps get higher the fan speed ramps up

BloodBath · 16-10-2014 1:32am

kingtiger wrote: »

get something like this

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/r9-290-accelero-xtreme-290,3671-2.html

have a similar model on my 7870 and its barely audible at 100% fan speed and temps hit 60 degrees max under full load

That's really not going to help a card like the 290. The cooler that is on his card already is just as good if not better.

As Lu Tze said you need to make a custom profile in Afterburner that changes speed based on temps.

Something like this should do the trick.

That should partially help. The next step would be to try reduce the voltage a little on the GPU and see how low you can take it so it still runs at it's stock speeds. If you don't mind losing a little performance you could underclock a little to help it even further.

ZeroThreat · 16-10-2014 10:01am

Splender1 wrote: »

Hi Lads, i recently bought this card but when i start to play graphically intensive games this card gets very loud. Properly doesn't help that there are 3 small fans with it. Anyway, i'm pretty disappointed since it cost a nice bit. And i dont wear headphones while gaming and the noise is very obvious.
Would it make a difference if i swapped this card for another card like the Asus GTX 970?

Aren't the new 970/980 series supposed to have very noticeable coil 'whine' noise right now?

Luck100 · 16-10-2014 3:13pm

ZeroThreat wrote: »

Aren't the new 970/980 series supposed to have very noticeable coil 'whine' noise right now?

Some have it, some don't. No pattern really, more just luck of the draw.

Splender1 · 16-10-2014 4:08pm

BloodBath wrote: »

That's really not going to help a card like the 290. The cooler that is on his card already is just as good if not better.

As Lu Tze said you need to make a custom profile in Afterburner that changes speed based on temps.

Something like this should do the trick.

That should partially help. The next step would be to try reduce the voltage a little on the GPU and see how low you can take it so it still runs at it's stock speeds. If you don't mind losing a little performance you could underclock a little to help it even further.

Ok i followed your graph and set that fan profile, how do i reduce the voltage on my gpu? I see core voltage on the afterburner software but i can't adjust it? Sorry for my ignorance

Luck100 · 16-10-2014 4:34pm

Splender1 wrote: »

Ok i followed your graph and set that fan profile, how do i reduce the voltage on my gpu? I see core voltage on the afterburner software but i can't adjust it? Sorry for my ignorance

You have to go into afterburner settings and hit the checkbox that enables voltage control. Then you restart afterburner and you should see a slider for voltage control.

BloodBath · 16-10-2014 5:37pm

Also you never replied to what your case cooling is like?

What case are you using and what fan setup?

Case cooling can make a huge difference to GPU temps. 10-20C depending on the case.

If you have room to add additional case fans to improve airflow then you should do it.

Splender1 · 16-10-2014 6:58pm

BloodBath wrote: »

Also you never replied to what your case cooling is like?

What case are you using and what fan setup?

Case cooling can make a huge difference to GPU temps. 10-20C depending on the case.

If you have room to add additional case fans to improve airflow then you should do it.

This is the case i have and i have only 2 fans, which came with the case. One in front and one to rear. I could add another fan to the top of the case.

.G. · 16-10-2014 7:25pm

Buy more fans, it takes up to seven. Two is nowhere near good enough, especially if one of them is the exhaust.

BloodBath · 16-10-2014 7:59pm

Definitely adding more case fans will improve temps a fair bit.

You should add a second front intake, a side intake and a top exhaust minimum.

Splender1 · 16-10-2014 8:33pm

BloodBath wrote: »

Definitely adding more case fans will improve temps a fair bit.

You should add a second front intake, a side intake and a top exhaust minimum.

Ok, sound for that. Could you recommend any particular model of fan ?

BloodBath · 16-10-2014 9:57pm

Almost anything will do really. I wouldn't go crazy buying €20-30 fans although most decent 140mm fans will set you back at least €10 a piece.

Anything that's not sleeve bearing ideally as they tend to wear fast and get louder over time as they wear.

3 decent 140mm fans will do the trick. Make sure you have connections for these, if not you will need an adaptor/splitter or fan controller as well.

Splender1 · 17-10-2014 12:33pm

BloodBath wrote: »

Almost anything will do really. I wouldn't go crazy buying €20-30 fans although most decent 140mm fans will set you back at least €10 a piece.

Anything that's not sleeve bearing ideally as they tend to wear fast and get louder over time as they wear.

3 decent 140mm fans will do the trick. Make sure you have connections for these, if not you will need an adaptor/splitter or fan controller as well.

Can i connect them to the mobo? i have 3 system fan connections free on my mobo

Luck100 · 17-10-2014 1:12pm

Splender1 wrote: »

Can i connect them to the mobo? i have 3 system fan connections free on my mobo

They will run but you may not be able to adjust the fan speed. On my mobo the system fan connections are all pwm, so I can only control fan speed if I use pwm fans. With non-pwm fans, they just run full speed. PWM fans are usually more expensive.

I didn't know any of that when I started so I plugged some of my case fans into the mobo connectors and couldn't figure out why I couldn't change the fan speed. In the end I bought a separate Aerocool fan controller which runs all 7 of my case fans.

Splender1 · 17-10-2014 9:12pm

Luck100 wrote: »

They will run but you may not be able to adjust the fan speed. On my mobo the system fan connections are all pwm, so I can only control fan speed if I use pwm fans. With non-pwm fans, they just run full speed. PWM fans are usually more expensive.

I didn't know any of that when I started so I plugged some of my case fans into the mobo connectors and couldn't figure out why I couldn't change the fan speed. In the end I bought a separate Aerocool fan controller which runs all 7 of my case fans.

Could you recommend a good fan controller with the option of automatic pwm control? I found this but i'm finding it difficult to source a seller in uk or europe for that matter.

Splender1 · 21-10-2014 4:17pm

Splender1 wrote: »

Could you recommend a good fan controller with the option of automatic pwm control? I found this but i'm finding it difficult to source a seller in uk or europe for that matter.

Can anyone recommend one?

Luck100 · 23-10-2014 1:10pm

Sorry, just seeing your post now. That's the first fan controller I've ever seen with optional mobo pwm control. Most of them are for running 3-pin fans directly (independent of the motherboard). Any reason you need to have that feature?

game4it70 · 23-10-2014 1:16pm

Splender1 wrote: »

Can anyone recommend one?

You could also use something like this which lets you connect the fans directly to the pwn header on your mobo.
It takes power from the psu so you dont blow the mobo header.

Luck100 · 23-10-2014 3:00pm

game4it70 wrote: »

You could also use something like this which lets you connect the fans directly to the pwn header on your mobo.
It takes power from the psu so you dont blow the mobo header.

Not really equivalent. The unit Splender found basically makes a 3-pin (non-pwm) fan look like a pwm fan to the mobo. Those splitter cables will just run 3-pin fans at max rpm when you connect them to the mobo.

Splender1 · 23-10-2014 8:07pm

Luck100 wrote: »

Sorry, just seeing your post now. That's the first fan controller I've ever seen with optional mobo pwm control. Most of them are for running 3-pin fans directly (independent of the motherboard). Any reason you need to have that feature?

I suppose there is no need for mobo pwn control, could you recommend another ?

Graphic Card upgrade?!

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