# Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Vapor-X 4 GB



## W1zzard (Jul 21, 2014)

Sapphire's R9 290 Vapor-X comes highly overclocked out of the box, matching the R9 290X in performance. The card's triple-fan, triple-slot cooler manages temperatures very well and offers a unique feature: you decide whether the card idles with one or three fans running, which lets you focus on temperature or noise.

*Show full review*


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## Assimilator (Jul 24, 2014)

3rd page, "is branding the Vapor-X in a strongrt"...


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## Mathragh (Jul 24, 2014)

I think you might've forgotten to change the clocks at the overclocking page after copy-pasting

Apart from that, looks like a nice card! custom PCB it seems?


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## fullinfusion (Jul 24, 2014)

What Id really like to see is a crossfire review and see what temperatures really look like. Can these coolers in fact  keep the core cool


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## W1zzard (Jul 24, 2014)

Assimilator said:


> 3rd page, "is branding the Vapor-X in a strongrt"...





Mathragh said:


> I think you might've forgotten to change the clocks at the overclocking page after copy-pasting
> 
> Apart from that, looks like a nice card! custom PCB it seems?



both fixed. thanks!



fullinfusion said:


> What Id really like to see is a crossfire review and see what temperatures really look like. Can these coolers in fact  keep the core cool


what do you mean? temps are listed. in CF you have half a slot spacing between each card, plenty


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## Champ (Jul 25, 2014)

2 of these will be in my possesion


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## fullinfusion (Jul 25, 2014)

W1zzard said:


> both fixed. thanks!
> 
> 
> what do you mean? temps are listed. in CF you have half a slot spacing between each card, plenty


lol have you crossfired them recently?

Temps that would be in the high 70's in single mode shoot right up in crossfire. I have killer single card temps but when the 2nd card is active up goes the top cards temp.

That would be a great test to see if the master card's cooler is worthy enough to handle the heat..


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## avatar_raq (Jul 25, 2014)

Page 1: "Clock speeds have been increased to 947 MHz GPU", I think you mean 1030mhz.

Edit: It is corrected now.


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## Scrizz (Jul 25, 2014)

fullinfusion said:


> lol have you crossfired them recently?
> 
> Temps that would be in the high 70's in single mode shoot right up in crossfire. I have killer single card temps but when the 2nd card is active up goes the top cards temp.
> 
> That would be a great test to see if the master card's cooler is worthy enough to handle the heat..


do you have the same cards he has?


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Jul 25, 2014)

Fancy coolers, mediocre performance & poor overall power consumption especially at both normal & peak usage. Rather spend that extra $200+ for a GTX780Ti that basically blows AMD out of the water.


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## buildzoid (Jul 25, 2014)

Well Sapphire managed to screw up the VRM on this one. Using 6 40A PowerIRStages is a lot less than AMD's 5 71A IR MOSFETs unless I'm reading the numbers on the power stages wrong and they aren't 3553s(40A) but 3550s(60A) or 3551s(50A).


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## Mathragh (Jul 25, 2014)

fullinfusion said:


> lol have you crossfired them recently?
> 
> Temps that would be in the high 70's in single mode shoot right up in crossfire. I have killer single card temps but when the 2nd card is active up goes the top cards temp.
> 
> That would be a great test to see if the master card's cooler is worthy enough to handle the heat..


Wouldn't this be an airflow issue rather than the card thats at fault?

I can imagine 600W of heat being injected into the case being quite the problem for the local air temperature if you don't have enough air flowing past those two cards.
I already noticed a difference in case temperature when I went from the stock rear exhaust cooler to an open air one, and thats with loads of airflow and a card that maybe uses half the power.


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## buildzoid (Jul 25, 2014)

Mathragh said:


> Wouldn't this be an airflow issue rather than the card thats at fault?
> 
> I can imagine 600W of heat being injected into the case being quite the problem for the local air temperature if you don't have enough air flowing past those two cards.
> I already noticed a difference in case temperature when I went from the stock rear exhaust cooler to an open air one, and thats with loads of airflow and a card that maybe uses half the power.



I run my crossfire setup on a test bench and heat still a problem.


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## Lopez0101 (Jul 25, 2014)

Tsukiyomi91 said:


> extra $200+



$200 for an 11% performance increase. I'd take the 290 and but that $200 toward a 1440p monitor.


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## Kyuuba (Jul 26, 2014)

Great card but not worth the price according to the extra performance.


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## Relayer (Jul 27, 2014)

buildzoid said:


> I run my crossfire setup on a test bench and heat still a problem.


A proper case design with good airflow will outperform static air flow even on an open bench. Have you tried adding any fans to your setup?


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## buildzoid (Jul 28, 2014)

Relayer said:


> A proper case design with good airflow will outperform static air flow even on an open bench. Have you tried adding any fans to your setup?


2 70mm fans force air in from the back between the cards and one 120mm fans is pushing air in from the front both card exhaust up. However even with this setup the middle intake fan is staking in 36C air when the cards are full load. The two outer fans get to intake ambient temperature air.


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## Casecutter (Jul 28, 2014)

Tsukiyomi91 said:


> Rather spend that extra $200+ for a GTX780Ti that basically blows AMD out of the water.


You'd rather spend 50% more money to recieve 11% more performance...


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Jul 29, 2014)

Well, why not? I dun mind getting the best performing single GPU card in the market, in it's reference form. Doesn't have fancy coolers but gets the job done.


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## Lopez0101 (Jul 30, 2014)

Put that extra money toward a monitor that can use that extra power?


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 31, 2014)

Tsukiyomi91 said:


> Fancy coolers, mediocre performance & poor overall power consumption especially at both normal & peak usage. Rather spend that extra $200+ for a GTX780Ti that basically blows AMD out of the water.



Go troll elsewhere.


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## Kyuuba (Aug 8, 2014)

Tsukiyomi91 said:


> Fancy coolers, mediocre performance & poor overall power consumption especially at both normal & peak usage. Rather spend that extra $200+ for a GTX780Ti that basically blows AMD out of the water.


That's funny, even two 780 ti can't beat the 295X


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Aug 17, 2014)

I'm saying on single GPU cards, not dual GPU cards mind you... besides, having 2 cards is still cheaper than a single R9 295X2 & I'm not playing games on 4K since triple 1080p displays are more than enough & 4K gaming only gives resolution, not better visual quality like those 4K TV demos you see at those electronic shops.


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## Kyuuba (Aug 21, 2014)

Tsukiyomi91 said:


> I'm saying on single GPU cards, not dual GPU cards mind you... besides, having 2 cards is still cheaper than a single R9 295X2 & I'm not playing games on 4K since triple 1080p displays are more than enough & 4K gaming only gives resolution, not better visual quality like those 4K TV demos you see at those electronic shops.


I understand you, really i do, but you could be less rude, it's just a review, sometimes we speak too loud that apparently sounds like a troll, the reviewer has done the cool job on showing the product's potential, however, my reply wasn't attacking you either so it's all good.


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## Steevo (Aug 21, 2014)

Noise complaint despite being quieter than the 780Ti it was aiming at? Perhaps a different more annoying noise than the 780Ti makes?  Perhaps the sound from the strippers on the money saved was the real issue. 

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_780_Ti/32.html


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Aug 22, 2014)

@Kyuuba: It's ok man. =)


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Aug 22, 2014)

aftermarket or not, their purpose is simple: to keep the GPU, VRAM & VRM chips cool at operate at optimal or lower temperature.


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## mroofie (Aug 27, 2014)

W1zzard said:


> both fixed. thanks!
> 
> 
> what do you mean? temps are listed. in CF you have half a slot spacing between each card, plenty


still waiting on a review of the R9 280 just one card please


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 27, 2014)

Already reviewed on msi...


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