how to keep the R9 290x cool

[Metalrocks]

i have read that its obviously normal for the card to get hot but my concern is, that i can actually smell burned rubber. the card it self runs great. all the games run smooth and actually have no issues at all. but as soon when i play tomb raider, the card gets really loud that i can even hear it through my headphones and i smell burned rubber.
i have set everything to max in the game and it runs buttery smooth but when i smell my card, i start to worry.

so far that is the only game were i have this. others like watch dogs, no problem. with titanfall i have noticed it does get loud as well but i dont smell anything. only with TR.

so can i cool the card off without losing on performance? i have never done any tweaking with cards before, so i need a guide for dummies explanation.

in case its helpful, my card is from asus.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Can you look up the exact serial of this card, helps finding if there are specific problems with that series of cards and how they get fixed.

Otherwise try to set your cooling fans to a more active state, double check all the vents and ribs are clean, and make sure your card has room to breathe. In a cramped case you can quickly start raising the average temperature which will hinder cooling a great deal. And if it seems to run hot again try to check what the core temperatures are.
http://www.gputemp.com/

 

[Metalrocks]

the card is not even 2 weeks old,so its clean. and yes, there is plenty of room for it to breathe. and what do you mean with serial? the card is from asus as i have already stated.

 

[Supernova1138]

The 290x runs incredibly hot, especially with the reference cooler. Even with the board partner's better air coolers, you're still going to have to crank the fans up to keep it cool. If you want it to stay cool while remaining quiet, you're probably going to have to install a water cooler on your card, though doing so is likely to void your warranty.

 

[bobthebot]

Download MSI afterburner and check your card's temperature and fan speed, the reference 290x does sound like a jet turbine, but you definitely shouldn't be smelling anything burning .

 

[Metalrocks]

yeah, i think i will leave the water cooler out of it. would have no idea how do it anyway. but this reminds me that there should be a switch on the card for adjusting the speed of the fans. will have a look once im home from work.

thats what i thought as well that i should not smell anything. and yet, with TR i do smell something.

@smooth operator
i think i know now what you mean with serial. i checked the box and it has "matrix platinum" written on it.

also wile reading the box, it does have a light indication how hard the GPU is working. blue for light, yellow for medium, and red for heavy.
also a DPI switch that is meant for overclocking. i flicked the switch anyway in hope it will improve my problem.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

You could look into underclocking it, Im not familiar with the process myself but it wouldnt be as dangerous as overclocking I imagine. Youd basically be lowering the power of your graphics card for a tradeoff in less heat.

 

[Metalrocks]

You could look into underclocking it, Im not familiar with the process myself but it wouldnt be as dangerous as overclocking I imagine. Youd basically be lowering the power of your graphics card for a tradeoff in less heat.

and that is my question how to do it. i have never done anything like that before. i have no idea what to do in the catalyst setup.

anyway, i have played TR just now and as soon i was in the game (i mean when i had control over lara) the light turned immediately to red and was loud but not as loud as it usually was.
i have played for 30 min and even when it was loud, this time i didnt smell anything. but i could feel that it was hot when i put my hand on the top of my case which has a huge fan.

so i dont know if that DPI switch did the trick but at least i didnt smell anything which i had before when i just played for like 10 min or less. also it wasnt as loud. before, i could clearly hear the fans run, even when i was in a gunfight but this time it was a bit quieter that i didnt hear as much.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

You could look into underclocking it, Im not familiar with the process myself but it wouldnt be as dangerous as overclocking I imagine. Youd basically be lowering the power of your graphics card for a tradeoff in less heat.

and that is my question how to do it. i have never done anything like that before. i have no idea what to do in the catalyst setup.

anyway, i have played TR just now and as soon i was in the game (i mean when i had control over lara) the light turned immediately to red and was loud but not as loud as it usually was.
i have played for 30 min and even when it was loud, this time i didnt smell anything. but i could feel that it was hot when i put my hand on the top of my case which has a huge fan.

so i dont know if that DPI switch did the trick but at least i didnt smell anything which i had before when i just played for like 10 min or less. also it wasnt as loud. before, i could clearly hear the fans run, even when i was in a gunfight but this time it was a bit quieter that i didnt hear as much.

So you did, I fail at reading comprehension I guess. Prehaps googling how to underclock your card might yield something. I believe it can be done through the control panel.

 

[Metalrocks]

i did google for it but i didnt really find any helpful information as to how to do it or what option would work best. all i could find is over powering it or under powering it and the under powering always led to reducing performance.

 

[CrystalShadow]

i did google for it but i didnt really find any helpful information as to how to do it or what option would work best. all i could find is over powering it or under powering it and the under powering always led to reducing performance.

Yes. Underpowering will reduce performance, because you are quite literally changing the settings that determine how fast the chip on the card processes information.

But... If it's working less hard, it gets less hot. So if you have a heat problem, you turn it down and deal with reduced performance, or, if you're desperate for extra performance, you turn it up and hope your system can cope with the extra heat without anything breaking... (well, obviously, best not to be quite that casual about it, but you get the general idea...XD)

 

[Metalrocks]

i did google for it but i didnt really find any helpful information as to how to do it or what option would work best. all i could find is over powering it or under powering it and the under powering always led to reducing performance.

Yes. Underpowering will reduce performance, because you are quite literally changing the settings that determine how fast the chip on the card processes information.

But... If it's working less hard, it gets less hot. So if you have a heat problem, you turn it down and deal with reduced performance, or, if you're desperate for extra performance, you turn it up and hope your system can cope with the extra heat without anything breaking... (well, obviously, best not to be quite that casual about it, but you get the general idea...XD)

thats why im asking here if someone would know what option would be the best that doenst cut down on performance and keeps the card cool.

 

[CrystalShadow]

i did google for it but i didnt really find any helpful information as to how to do it or what option would work best. all i could find is over powering it or under powering it and the under powering always led to reducing performance.

Yes. Underpowering will reduce performance, because you are quite literally changing the settings that determine how fast the chip on the card processes information.

But... If it's working less hard, it gets less hot. So if you have a heat problem, you turn it down and deal with reduced performance, or, if you're desperate for extra performance, you turn it up and hope your system can cope with the extra heat without anything breaking... (well, obviously, best not to be quite that casual about it, but you get the general idea...XD)

thats why im asking here if someone would know what option would be the best that doenst cut down on performance and keeps the card cool.

I understand, but unfortuantely the laws of physics are against you on this. Unless you are willing to alter the hardware itself (improved cooler, changing the internal layout of your case, adding case fans, etc)

There is literally nothing you can do with software or setting changes alone that doesn't represent a trade-off between heat produced and performance.

That's why people heavily into overclocking invest in crazy things like water cooling or at least replace the stock fans. This stuff comes down to basic thermodynamics.
more work done = more heat. Which is to say, better performance means more heat.

It isn't a linear thing though, so lowering performance even a small amount can have bigger effects on temperatures than you might expect, but it remains a trade-off. And there's no way around it short of hardware changes...

 

[Metalrocks]

i see. so i better keep it at standard settings then. since the card didnt smell after playing TR and was a bit quieter, i think i can relax a bit since getting hot is normal.
thanks for the info and help.

but if there are still some things to know, im open to read about it.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Sorry the answer is so disappointing.

I hope you can get it to the point where it isn't such a problem anymore.
And if you're lucky, the burning smell was just some unimportant goop or something burning off.
like, maybe someone made a bit of a mess when putting part of the card together and it had some residue on it...

Keep an eye on the actual internal temperature of your system though, if you can.
It can get surprisingly hot without actually being an issue, but... Lower is definitely better.
If the ambient temperature inside the case when the system idle is in the 40-50 degrees Celsius range, that's about the upper limits... once it starts getting to the 50-60 range you should definitely be reconsidering your cooling setup.

Individual components can get hotter than that, but if you see anything routinely going above 90 degrees Celsius under any conditions you likely have a pretty serious heat problem. (And if it hits 100-110 or so, depending on the chip, you'll definitely know about it, because your system will start turning off whenever you try and push it... That's something to be thankful for though really, because it's a safety feature. Long ago, a chip hitting the same kind of temperatures would just keep running, and fry itself, ruining your computer permanently. But modern systems don't do that so easily, fortunately)

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

play tomb raider

This could be the problemm if you've left that stupid TressFX shit on. If I remember rightly, it's an absolute resource pig that demands a fuckton of processing power from your GPU. That will push the GPU temp way above what you'd normally get from a reasonably graphics demanding game.

 

[Metalrocks]

@crystal
you could be right about the goop part. after all the card is new. at least the last time i played it i didnt smell anything, but could feel the heat coming out from the fans of my case. at least other games are in the blue and didnt go up, even after few hours of playing.
now if i play it, i make sure i dont play for hours in a row. havent tried out the temp but since i can see the light through my case, i know if its in the red or not.

@rhombus
thats true that tressfx is a hardware demanding. but i played with a sepphire 7870 card and it ran fine. had to switch down some settings to play smoothly but tress was on and had no other issues either.