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PowerColor announces AMD R9 290X with liquid cooling solution

by Mark Tyson on 18 December 2013, 11:11

Tags: PowerColor (6150.TWO), AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qab6mf

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Taiwan based TUL Corporation has announced the PowerColor LCS R9 290X today. The LCS in the name denotes that this card uses a 'liquid cooling solution' to keep the GPU, memory and other heat-critical components cool. PowerColor claims its factory overclocked card is the "first and only R9 290X with liquid cooling solution in the market."

Cooling manufacturer EK Water Blocks has partnered with PowerColor to provide the custom cooler design. We are told that the full cover water block "directly cools the GPU, memory and other important components as water flows directly over these critical areas, delivering extraordinary thermal performance for optimum stability and a superb OC setting". The cooler base is constructed from copper with nickel plate which is said to offer thermal dissipation enhancement and oxidisation resistance.

Under 60°C, even under full load

The PowerColor LCS R9 290X has both GPU and memory 'factory overclocked'. The GPU core runs at 1060MHz, 60MHz over reference; also the card's 4GB of DDR5 memory runs at 1350MHz, which is 100MHz above reference. Despite these boosts to clock speed the LCS keeps the card running at under 60°C, even under full load, says PowerColor. The firm supplies this card with high-flow 3/8-inch and ½-inch fittings and o-rings to help you integrate this card into your liquid cooling setup.

This graphics card also features PowerColor's 'Gold Power Kit' to aid in stability and durability. This kit is composed of; a Digital PWM solution, DirectFET low impedance components and shielded Ferrite Core Chokes.

In HEXUS tests of the AMD Radeon R9 290X, when it was launched, the reference card ran rather toasty under load at 94°C while kicking up 40.9 Decibels of noise.



HEXUS Forums :: 13 Comments

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They can't state temps on a wc block without stating the used rads and pump also. And it seems that they mounted it badly as most EK cooled 290x cards run at 50°C after overvolting.
OCUK tech labs had theirs out not long after launch… so this is actually the first factory fitted partner card with a waterblock, not the first card outright. Although both versions are using the same block by EK so be interesting what the cost difference is…
Okay Hexus should make review on this and I need to know how much it can achieve in overclock.
Mowgli
They can't state temps on a wc block without stating the used rads and pump also.

Uh, yes, they can. The whole point of these cards is that they run to a specified temperature, and scale back frequency to maintain the target - in the air-cooled cards, this was 95°C. In these cards, it'll be set to 60°C.
MaverickWill
Mowgli
They can't state temps on a wc block without stating the used rads and pump also.

Uh, yes, they can. The whole point of these cards is that they run to a specified temperature, and scale back frequency to maintain the target - in the air-cooled cards, this was 95°C. In these cards, it'll be set to 60°C.

95 is the threshold before it has throttle the card down yes, but running it on liquid means it should never have to be throttled. Otherwise whats the point in overclocking it to only throttle it again with a lower temperature threshold when air can support up to 95?

Setting a target temp on a liquid solution is crazy (especially when it gives lower performance threshold than that of air), so i'd imagine that the temperature specified there will be the maximum temperature the card has reached during its testing.

So going back to what the OP was saying he is actually right as there is no explanation on the minimum requirement gear they used to reach those temps. A single rad with 1 fan which has little to no static pressure really wont perform much better than a well ventilated case & air cooled card. So without any context on how they tested the temperatures then the figures are pointless…