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Clock Rates, Temperature, And Sound Level

PowerColor PCS+ R9 290X Review: Cool, Quiet, And Priced Right
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Achievable Clock Rates under Load

Subjected to a gaming load, PowerColor's card exhibits brief dips in its clock rate. They're typically pretty minor, though, and have little effect on performance.

Temperature Transients

During the same gaming load, PowerColor's PCS+ R9 290X hits a peak temperature of 74 °C (165 °F) after approximately eight minutes. Beyond, the board's thermal solution spins up to maintain a stable ceiling that doesn't get anywhere close to the 95 °C we're forced to endure by AMD's reference cooler.

The following table compares PowerColor's board to previously-tested competitors.

Models
Idle
Gaming, Open Test BenchVRM
Gaming, Closed Case
Asus R9290X-DC2OC-4GD5 R9 290X DirectCU II OC34 °C
76 °C
92 °C
84-85 °C
Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290X35 °C
73 °C
85 °C
70-72 °C
Gigabyte GV-R929XOC-4GD R9 290X Windforce OC
Press Sample
34 °C
84 °C
86 °C
83 °C
Gigabyte GV-R929XOC-4GD R9 290X Windforce OC
Mass Production
34 °C
83 °C
87 °C
81 °C
HIS R9 290X IceQ X² Turbo35 °C
78 °C
70 °C
81-82 °C
MSI R9 290X Gaming 4G34 °C
76 °C
73 °C
75-76 °C
MSI R9 290X Lightning35 °C
70 °C80 °C
68-70 °C
PowerColor PCS+ R9 290X34 °C
74 °C82 °C
74 °C

Sound Level

Next, we measure the sound level of all cards in various use cases with a calibrated studio microphone positioned perpendicular to the centre of the card 20 inches away.

How does PowerColor PCS+ R9 290X stack up? Its good cooling performance is achieved at the cost of increased fan noise, though it isn't as blatant as some of the other Radeon R9 290Xes we've tested.

Models
Idle
Gaming, Open Test BenchGaming, Closed Case
Asus R9290X-DC2OC-4GD5 R9 290X DirectCU II OC32.5 dB(A)
42.3 dB(A)
44.3 dB(A)
Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290X32.1 dB(A)
40.9 dB(A)
42.8 dB(A)
Gigabyte GV-R929XOC-4GD R9 290X Windforce OC
Press Sample
30.9 dB(A)
41.5 dB(A)
43.6 dB(A)
Gigabyte GV-R929XOC-4GD R9 290X Windforce OC
Mass Production
30.9 dB(A)
39.6 dB(A)
43.2 dB(A)
HIS R9 290X IceQ X² Turbo31.2 dB(A)
46.2 dB(A)
48.8 dB(A)
MSI R9 290X Gaming 4G30.9 dB(A)
41.2 dB(A)
43.9 dB(A)
MSI R9 290X Lightning31.1 dB(A)
38.5 dB(A)
42.2 dB(A)
PowerColor PCS+ R9 290X31.3 dB(A)39.3 dB(A)
43.3 dB(A)

With that said, the sound levels are fairly close, so we encourage you to watch the videos and compare them yourself. After all, the spectral composition of the fan noise may differ from card to card, and personal preferences may vary as well.

MSI's R9 290X Lightning is slightly quieter than PowerColor's card, though the PCS+ R9 290X is tolerable enough.

PowerColor PCS+ R9 290X

Powercolor R9 290X PCS - Full Load - Gaming Loop

MSI R9 290X Lightning

MSI R9 290X Lightning - Full Load - Gaming Loop

Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290X

Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC- Full Load - Gaming Loop

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