Reference Radeon R9 290X Taken Apart

[btarunr]

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.



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[RCoon]

That's some disgraceful pasting right there AMD/HIS...

 

[Indra EMC]

I know that is a sample card but why there is no crossfire connector ?

 

[Ghost]

I know that is a sample card but why there is no crossfire connector ?

Because R9 290X uses CF over PCI-E.

 

[nemesis.ie]

I know that is a sample card but why there is no crossfire connector ?

If you check out the preview details you'll find that Crossfire is being handled over the PCI-E bus only on the new cards.

 

[nemesis.ie]

That's some disgraceful pasting right there AMD/HIS...

I've seen much worse, at least it looks pretty even and no gaps.

 

[Assimilator]

Highest-end card in the range, but no backplate?

 

[RCoon]

Highest-end card in the range, but no backplate?

When has a reference card from ANY range of GPU's ever come packaged with a backplate?

 

[the54thvoid]

Went to source for better look at PCB pics. The chokes look very similar to what was on my stock Powercolor 7970. At least they start with '1007R3, R15'. oooh. They can whine under load. Not saying it will but if W1zz is reading this, mind to listen out for the boards electrical noise.
EKWB are making blocks for these so they'd be pretty fast under water (I'd hope) but if there's choke noise, it's not so pretty.

Also,

What are the screw holes for in the cover? Or is it just where the shroud screws have already been removed...

 

[RCoon]

Went to source for better look at PCB pics. The chokes look very similar to what was on my stock Powercolor 7970. At least they start with '1007R3, R15'. oooh. They can whine under load. Not saying it will but if W1zz is reading this, mind to listen out for the boards electrical noise.
EKWB are making blocks for these so they'd be pretty fast under water (I'd hope) but if there's choke noise, it's not so pretty.

Also,

What are the screw holes for in the cover? Or is it just where the shroud screws have already been removed...

http://img.techpowerup.org/131014/Untitled662.png

Screw holes I assume are similar to the Titan/780, the outer shroud screws into the inner cooler on the end, only there are 4 here instead of 2.

 

[Supercrit]

when has a reference card from any range of gpu's ever come packaged with a backplate?

5870, 6970/6950

 

[Fairlady-z]

Too bad these cards wont ship for about 500ish, as that would have been a must buy GPU. I know people who did/didn't need to upgrade would have lol. Also, from the looks of that PCB it would a good idea to wait out for a Asus custom, but my understanding is for now the AIB are not allowed to make their own? Is there any truth to this? What about a custom cooler?

 

[RCoon]

5870, 6970/6950

Interesting examples, but those days are long gone.

 

[Supercrit]

Interesting examples, but those days are long gone.

Sigh... The golden age of backplates of 69xx, where even the non-top card 6950 has a backplate, as well as being able to unlock to a 6970.

 

[Fairlady-z]

Went to source for better look at PCB pics. The chokes look very similar to what was on my stock Powercolor 7970. At least they start with '1007R3, R15'. oooh. They can whine under load. Not saying it will but if W1zz is reading this, mind to listen out for the boards electrical noise.
EKWB are making blocks for these so they'd be pretty fast under water (I'd hope) but if there's choke noise, it's not so pretty.

Also,

What are the screw holes for in the cover? Or is it just where the shroud screws have already been removed...

http://img.techpowerup.org/131014/Untitled662.png

Say it isnt so Jhonny....god what I hate the most is the damn whine noise that some of my older cards produced. It drove me nuts, so much that I would upgrade at a loss just to get out of it. My MSI 7

 

[btarunr]

Highest-end card in the range, but no backplate?

Just like the $1000 Titan.

 

[the54thvoid]

Just like the $1000 Titan.

Absolutely. And FTR, my Titan has coil whine when i up the voltage. Let's hope AMD isn't making a "better than Titan but has same problems as Titan card."

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Absolutely. And FTR, my Titan has coil whine when i up the voltage. Let's hope AMD isn't making a "better than Titan but has same problems as Titan card."

I agree 100%. I'd love to replace my 7970 with a 290X,but if the card has coil whine , I don't care if it gives a bajillion FPS at super ultra very high settings at 25600000*16000000 resolution, I won't buy it. :shadedshu

 

[dj-electric]

This PCB design makes me worry, It doesn't seem very capable, at all.

BUT, unlike the Titan it is going to be changed a lot by AIB's

 

[Ghost]

I agree 100%. I'd love to replace my 7970 with a 290X,but if the card has coil whine , I don't care if it gives a bajillion FPS at super ultra very high settings at 25600000*16000000 resolution, I won't buy it. :shadedshu

Actually, bajillion FPS would be a cause of coil whine.

 

[RCoon]

Actually, bajillion FPS would be a cause of coil whine.

I was just about to say. My old reference 780 got coil whine, only when I reached 1800+ FPS, but the coil whine disappeared around 1600-1700FPS. (3DMark tests)

 

[Fourstaff]

Just like the $1000 Titan.

IIRC they removed it because it caused the cards to be air starved in SLI.

 

[manofthem]

I can live with the coil whine . Just give me a nice price withinu a month from launch, and we have a deal!

 

[Prima.Vera]

Why are they keeping the same shitty cooler??! Specially for a premium card?? WHY?

 

[swirl09]

Went to source for better look at PCB pics. The chokes look very similar to what was on my stock Powercolor 7970. At least they start with '1007R3, R15'. oooh. They can whine under load. Not saying it will but if W1zz is reading this, mind to listen out for the boards electrical noise.
EKWB are making blocks for these so they'd be pretty fast under water (I'd hope) but if there's choke noise, it's not so pretty.

This 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.