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I'm a little perplexed why GPU-Z is showing me that card 1 in my R9 290X crossfire rig is idling at.. 93c. I have just booted Windows 8.1 and I've been sitting at the desktop the entire time. No games played, nothing weird running, just Google Chrome and GPU-Z. Latest beta AMD drivers installed from the website, as of Friday when I the cards were delivered from Newegg.



I do have a multiple monitor rig, but this is with all but one monitor disabled, only one monitor is active during the entirety of this testing.

The secondary crossfire card is much cooler at a breezy 68c.



And this is WITH my special "increase the volume of air output" modification in place on both cards.



So: why are the cards at 1000 Mhz and why is the memory clock on the primary card bouncing around to 1250 MHz when I am doing nothing but sitting at a Windows desktop?

I should note that I do see proper downclocking of the video cards when the monitor goes to sleep.

I left GPU-Z running while I was away from the PC for a while (preloading Battlefield 4 actually) and came back to totally sedate 290X temps and the expected low idle memory and GPU clockspeeds.

So this weird unnecessary upclocking (and high idle temps) seems to be specific to actual usage at a Windows desktop, where monitor sleep works fine.

Err, have you tried killing chrome?
It has a bunch of features that make use of GPU acceleration (GPU Accelerated Compositing and Canvass) that are enabled by default.

There is a bug in the current version of GPU-Z that causes the 290X not to drop its clock speeds at idle like it should. Just kill GPU-Z and monitor your temps in Catalyst Control Center. There is a GPU-Z update coming that should fix this problem and some others that happen (like slow resolution changes in games) when GPU-Z is running on the 290X, I believe.

how hot is the card while you physically touch it on the side ?

Do not use gpuz as previously stated. Why don't you use the latest MSI afterburner, it will give the same info and probably allow you to increase your fan profile to a more aggressive one, In settings.
Also if you have room on your side panel and or bottow of your case for some extra intake fans it should help cool everything down a bit.

I approve of your card mod. It's not pretty, but the best mods rarely are.

Makes sense. I was already beginning to suspect GPU-Z was causing some kind of interference:

https://twitter.com/codinghorror/status ... 7506713600

Hopefully the new GPU-Z will be out soon.

Like the 'air volume increase' modification.

And this is WITH my special "increase the volume of air output" modification in place on both cards.

depends.

you want the air to travel through, not just past the fins.

If you are only opening up the exit from the fins, you are good.
If you are opening a new path that was previously constricted to force air through the fins...then you have reduced your cooling.

hard to say from the picture and without knowing the exact shape of the shroud.

Click on the image URL to see it full size. This forum software crops images at random apparently..

http://i.imgur.com/aSzp66V.jpg

WTF dude, you'll never get warranty for that card now...

If temps worry you so much and you are prepared to modify the card with absolutely NO REGARD to keeping your warranty, why not buy an aftermarket cooler? The first company to add support for the 290x is Gelid with their Icy Rev. 2 cooler
http://www.gelidsolutions.com/products/ ... d=52&tab=1

More will probably follow. Just don't destroy your cards till then...

Also don't trust a single software to tell you the temperature, not when the card is so recent and the third party software needs to be updated.

One review of the 290 noticed high temps and asked AMD about it, their reply was the card normally runs at 90 to 95C and it was designed to run at those temps with no issues. So what your seeing is what passes for normal on the 290.

Is anybody thinking what I'm thinking?

Time to make some "Oeufs a la Fermi" on a 290X!

No aftermarket coolers are blowers -- I run crossfire and having

1. each card take up THREE slots
2. blow hot air around inside the case

... is a non-starter for me.

I think blower designs are much smarter, though it does assume there is a good flow of cool air to the intake of the blower.

For a single card, sure, the three slot aftermarket designs could work.