Monday, October 14th 2013

Reference Radeon R9 290X Taken Apart

A HIS-branded AMD reference design Radeon R9 290X graphics card was taken apart by Expreview, revealing its cooling solution, the PCB, the VRM, and the star attraction, the company's new 28 nm "Hawaii" silicon. The pictures match with an earlier, blurrier leak from September. The cooling solution is typical AMD fare, with its copper plate covering the GPU, memory, and VRM areas, aluminium channels, and a lateral-flow fan. The PCB features the swanky new 7.08 billion-transistor chip from AMD, sixteen GDDR5 memory chips (all of which are on the obverse side), and the 5+1+1 phase VRM, which uses CPL-made chokes, IR-made DirectFETs, and a new IR-made VRM controller. The first reviews of the Radeon R9 290X should be published later this month. Find more pictures at the source.
Source: Expreview
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61 Comments on Reference Radeon R9 290X Taken Apart

#26
RCoon
swirl09This is a complete deal breaker for me. I had 2 7970s and both had the most god awful coil whine. I'll be paying attention to any reviews about this issue.

I'm feeling like an upgrade, and this card may do it - if it has no bloody whiney buzz crap.
In all fairness both my Gainward 570's and a third Gigabyte card all had coil whine. Reference 780 had it, but my new Gigabyte custom PCB has no coil whine. I dont get how manufacturers can bugger it up so bad.
Posted on Reply
#27
BarbaricSoul
damn, I'm feeling lucky, only PC component that I've ever had that produced coil whine was a 750 watt Cooler Master PSU, and it didn't start the coil whine until I tried running crossfired 5870 cards with it..
Posted on Reply
#28
TheHunter
Well its mostly PSU that whines not gpu.

My old PSU had huge coil whine by very high fps - latest 3dmark 1st benchmark, now when I bought new one its so silent almost unnoticeable, I have to put my head near psu ~ 5cm away to hear it.
Posted on Reply
#29
BarbaricSoul
TheHunterWell its mostly PSU that whines not gpu.
.
I realize that
Posted on Reply
#30
Lionheart
My reaction when I receive my new Video Card in the mail.



Has coil whine

Posted on Reply
#31
Random Murderer
The Anti-Midas
Huh. The board design looks like a reference 7970/280X with four extra memory chips and a different core. Anybody else feel like AMD has probably been sitting on a stockpile of these for quite a while now?
Posted on Reply
#32
TheGuruStud
Cap the framerate and coil whine won't exist :p

The only time I've had whine (on virtually any card) is in game menus that don't cap, so it's at 200+ fps.
Posted on Reply
#33
Casecutter
Random MurdererAMD has probably been sitting on a stockpile of these for quite a while now
If you mean the PCB it's not a 7970 board (512-Bit), or do you mean the Hawaii chip?
Posted on Reply
#34
1d10t
Same board layout as TahitiXT but slightly faster,this card will draw more or less on par with 7970GE.That's a winner in my book.I don't care about coil whine though,i had Xonar HDAV + 5 NZXT rad fans to compromise :laugh:
Indra EMCI know that is a sample card but why there is no crossfire connector ?
Still jailbreakin PS3 console on kaskus mate? :p
Posted on Reply
#35
Random Murderer
The Anti-Midas
CasecutterIf you mean the PCB it's not a 7970 board (512-Bit),
Obviously.:wtf:
I meant it looked similar to the 7970 board. The power circuitry layout, especially.
Casecutteror do you mean the Hawaii chip?
Both. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if they've had fully assembled cards lying around, waiting to be sent to their partners. Would certainly explain why the 290/290X is being limited to reference designs for now.
1d10tI don't care about coil whine though,i had Xonar HDAV + 5 NZXT rad fans to compromise :laugh:
Agreed. Coil whine doesn't bother me as long as the hardware works. My case fans drown out the whine anyway, and even if they didn't, I game with headphones on.
Luckily, only one of my 7970s has coil whine and it's the worst ASIC and overclocker of the three.
Posted on Reply
#36
xvi
That's cool, AMD. I didn't need to save any money. Here. Take it. TAKE IT!
Posted on Reply
#37
HisDivineOrder
I just don't get it, AMD. You go all out, you want to sell me a high end card, and I want to be excited about it.

Then you slap it in a cooler the same as your now $300 card, you don't make it feel premium, and you want to charge me high cost for it. If you want to make it premium, you have to make it premium.

You can't cheap out on presentation and then expect the same or close to the same as the other guy. nVidia knows enough to really spare no expense on the cooler just to give off the impression that people spending the extra money are getting something for their money.

Moreover, coil whine may be acceptable to some, but it won't be acceptable to a lot of people dropping this kinda cash on a card (or two or three).

All that said, I'm glad AMD is returning to the high end. Even if they don't lower the price points much or raise the bar much (or at all?), it's nice to see the ti-- ...er.., I mean giants slugging it out at the high end again because GPU's (and enthusiast PC's in general) have become so boring lately...
Posted on Reply
#38
xvi
-____-

Coil whine is speculation based on it apparently using the same choke as the 7970. There's no reviews saying it whines. Speculation.

As for the cooler, the 280x is the 7970, which has a 250 watt TDP. The 290x is rumored to have a 300w TDP. Additionally, the 280x doesn't have a reference cooler. Everything is custom (Anandtech.com). AMD may have thrown on a similar cooler to the 280x in their engineering samples, but only because it's what they had available and it shouldn't reflect what you'll get in retail.

tl;dr: Wait until people actually get it in their hands.
Posted on Reply
#39
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
xvitl;dr: Wait until people actually get it in their hands.
Never!

EDIT: Seriously though, coil whine sucks. I will never ever be in the market for this GPU in any case, but it always suck.

Not that, as the illuminated xvi points out, it has to be.
Posted on Reply
#40
Finners
I notice it has hynix memory, is that good?

What memory is on the titan? I've read a few people complaining that its not the best.
Posted on Reply
#41
buildzoid
HisDivineOrderI just don't get it, AMD. You go all out, you want to sell me a high end card, and I want to be excited about it.

Then you slap it in a cooler the same as your now $300 card, you don't make it feel premium, and you want to charge me high cost for it. If you want to make it premium, you have to make it premium.

You can't cheap out on presentation and then expect the same or close to the same as the other guy. nVidia knows enough to really spare no expense on the cooler just to give off the impression that people spending the extra money are getting something for their money.
Here's you main difference the AMD card has a VRM that should be able to out put between 300 and 375A no problem whereas the Nvidia one will blow up at this point and burn your house down so please keep your stupid vanity cooler because coolers can be replaced VRMs not so much.
Posted on Reply
#42
TheoneandonlyMrK
HisDivineOrderI just don't get it, AMD. You go all out, you want to sell me a high end card, and I want to be excited about it.

Then you slap it in a cooler the same as your now $300 card, you don't make it feel premium, and you want to charge me high cost for it. If you want to make it premium, you have to make it premium.

You can't cheap out on presentation and then expect the same or close to the same as the other guy. nVidia knows enough to really spare no expense on the cooler just to give off the impression that people spending the extra money are getting something for their money.

Moreover, coil whine may be acceptable to some, but it won't be acceptable to a lot of people dropping this kinda cash on a card (or two or three).

All that said, I'm glad AMD is returning to the high end. Even if they don't lower the price points much or raise the bar much (or at all?), it's nice to see the ti-- ...er.., I mean giants slugging it out at the high end again because GPU's (and enthusiast PC's in general) have become so boring lately...
Interesting standpoint you have , mine is that if i bought a 6-700 pound gfx card i wouldnt want any cheap ass fan thing on it at all, its got to be a full cover block or nowt at that price i mean who pays more then 600 quid for a card with fans on:p

secondly this,,, Amd back in the enthusiast grade GPu thing , what total bollocks, whilst a 7970 isnt graded enthusiast now nor should it Now,, it sure was until titan came out how long ago? ,and as for looking cheap that's exactly why i didnt overpay for an economy aimed gk104 card that had an extended BLOWER on it just to make it look more premium as imho despite the good performance at that time, i would'nt overpay for what i saw as a shit built gpu(gtx680ref) aimed at value guy but priced for muppet man, in short get real i and a great many others are clearly enthusiast's were here waffleing nonesense everyday but most dont have 1 titan never mind more but you stroke your epeen i bet you've a gtx660 anyway:p


titan released at last

nvidianews.nvidia.com/Releases/NVIDIA-Introduces-GeForce-GTX-TITAN-DNA-of-the-World-s-Fastest-Supercomputer-Powered-by-World-s-Fa-925.aspx
Posted on Reply
#43
xvi
theoneandonlymrki wouldnt want any cheap ass fan thing on it at all
Please elaborate.
Posted on Reply
#44
DeOdView
And then we stripped it all off... re-dressed with some other fancy after market goody... :banghead:

I just wanted a bare board:D
Posted on Reply
#45
TheoneandonlyMrK
xviPlease elaborate.
if i pay 600+ I am getting a full cover waterblock, its gota last:D and fan coolers on gpu's are too noisey full load......;)though my matrix aint bad:D
Posted on Reply
#46
the54thvoid
Intoxicated Moderator
FinnersI notice it has hynix memory, is that good?

What memory is on the titan? I've read a few people complaining that its not the best.
Titan have Samsung which is purported to be better for oc'ing. Mine has gone as high as 7100 so far on Valley. I should add even at that there were no memory artifacts.
Posted on Reply
#47
Finners
the54thvoidTitan have Samsung which is purported to be better for oc'ing. Mine has gone as high as 7100 so far on Valley. I should add even at that there were no memory artifacts.
So the Titan is better in that department then, Anyway get back to work! Your misses just told me your on back shift haha

Those tapped holes you pointed out earlier, are for the brackets they use on GFX cards in mac's, Most GPU's have them ;)
Posted on Reply
#48
Casecutter
the54thvoidTitan have Samsung which is purported to be better for oc'ing. Mine has gone as high as 7100 so far on Valley. I should add even at that there were no memory artifacts.
I thought that also but not true...
CasecutterNow, I've yet to find a Titan or GTX780 that uses anything but Samsung parts? …
HumanSmokeMSI GTX 780 Lightning....Elpida.
Neliz's post.

The whole EVGA range

You can probably fill in the blanks.
Posted on Reply
#49
the54thvoid
Intoxicated Moderator
CasecutterI thought that also but not true...
One of the three, Samsung, Hynix or Elpida is lesser. It must be the Elpida getting the bad rap.
Posted on Reply
#50
Random Murderer
The Anti-Midas
FinnersThose tapped holes you pointed out earlier, are for the brackets they use on GFX cards in mac's, Most GPU's have them ;)
Not just Macs. Server towers as well.
Posted on Reply
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