HIS Radeon R9-290X review

Graphics cards 1048 Page 31 of 32 Published by

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Performance vs Noise vs Temperature targets

Performance vs Noise vs Temperature targets

An interesting question came up from one of our forums readers. He was interested to see what kind of an adverse effect lowering the temperature target on the R9-290X has in relation towards performance. So in the following tests we'll look at just that. We'll first heat up the GPU with a stress application and then in the Catalyst Control panel we'll lower the temperature target to:

  • Temp target 95C
  • Temp target 80C
  • Temp target 70C

We'll fire off the following benchmark sessions at the card: BioShock, Hitman, Tomb Raider and 3DMark FireStrike.

These are the results at 2560x1440:

Radeon R9 290X BioShock Hitman Tomb Raider 3DMark FireStrike DBA
Temp target 95C 62 57 87 9808 43
Temp target 80C 61 56 86 9744 47
Temp target 70C 59 54 84 9733 48

As you can see the lower temperature target does not effect 80 Degrees C in performance that much. The big downer however is that noise levels really become a problem. If the GPU is under full stress then yes, the performance will go down a notch but nothing dramatically. However the volume pressure from the cooler rises dramatically in DBa as the cooler starts to spin a lot faster in RPM. Anything after 44~45 DBa really gets annoying. Realistically with the reference cooler you probably want to stay clear of temperature targets.

Here's where aftermarket cooling and upcoming custom cards are going to make a big difference alright.
 

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