AMD power usage misconception

[Ddave]

Best 20 bucks I've ever spent. Want to know if a gaming rig or a Refrigerator use more power? So do I.

 

We need to know this. Please deliver results.    

[stconquest]

I'd love to see what you're actually drawing :lol:

 

525W at load... no more. 

[Syntaxvgm]

The 390 is a definite improvement over the 290. Even at the same clock speed the difference is noticeable. I almost pulled the 290 and sold it a few times since I got the 390. But something about two graphics cards in a case, just can't give it up.

I think while on they use 100-200 watts ish, but they aren't always doing something

[afyeung]

The 390 is a definite improvement over the 290. Even at the same clock speed the difference is noticeable. I almost pulled the 290 and sold it a few times since I got the 390. But something about two graphics cards in a case, just can't give it up.

I'd like to see proof for that. Even if the 290 drivers are gimped there should not be more than a 5% difference even in heavily tessellated tasks. And I'm pretty sure AMD unified the drivers for the 390 and 290 after launch.  

[App4that]

I think while on they use 100-200 watts ish, but they aren't always doing something

If I find the time this weekend I'm going to run just the 290, and just the 390. My money is on a 100w difference at load. The Nitro runs almost 10c cooler than my Vapor-x.

[App4that]

I'd like to see proof for that. Even if the 290 drivers are gimped there should not be more than a 5% difference even in heavily tessellated tasks. And I'm pretty sure AMD unified the drivers for the 390 and 290 after launch.  

The silicon lottery makes any real proof impossible, all speculative. Still fun.

[afyeung]

The silicon lottery makes any real proof impossible, all speculative. Still fun.

Yeah. Silicon lottery is different. The 390 and 290 still use the same exact chip. Heck, my overclocked 290 beat the 390x in the gta 5, bioshock, and sleeping dogs benchmarks

[App4that]

Yeah. Silicon lottery is different. The 390 and 290 still use the same exact chip. Heck, my overclocked 290 beat the 390x in the gta 5, bioshock, and sleeping dogs benchmarks

Same with my 290 and the 290x tests I found.

 

If you include the ability of the 390 to clock over where the 290 can the test results are within the 5-6% range you mentioned. It's crazy things like m,y second monitor looks better fed by the 390. I had my wife check to make sure I wasn't seeing things, was careful not to prime her. If I do the load test for wattage I'll run them both through Witcher by themselves and see what the difference is. Skyrim plays much better on the 390.

[afyeung]

Same with my 290 and the 290x tests I found.

 

If you include the ability of the 390 to clock over where the 290 can the test results are within the 5-6% range you mentioned. It's crazy things like m,y second monitor looks better fed by the 390. I had my wife check to make sure I wasn't seeing things, was careful not to prime her. If I do the load test for wattage I'll run them both through Witcher by themselves and see what the difference is. Skyrim plays much better on the 390.

Unless you have a huge sample of cards, you can't really make that sort of conclusion. The 390 is a rebranded 290. AMD and Nvidia have been doing this like forever. It's no different now, just because people associate the 290(x) with the horrible reference cooler doesn't mean that there are no aftermarket 290(x)s that will clock and perform better than many 390(x)s

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

I'd like to see proof for that. Even if the 290 drivers are gimped there should not be more than a 5% difference even in heavily tessellated tasks. And I'm pretty sure AMD unified the drivers for the 390 and 290 after launch.

It's to do with the vram configuration in the 390. That usually results in 1-3fps difference at certain times.

[afyeung]

It's to do with the vram configuration in the 390. That usually results in 1-3fps difference at certain times.

Yeah. The memory's been improved but ultimately it doesn't make too much of a difference. If you have a hynix 290(x) you can clock it over 1500mhz and make bios tweaks if you really want that 1 extra fps

[App4that]

Well, tried Witcher 3 with the crossfire enabled and Hairworks on full, everything on full. Just over 450w pulled from the wall, and temps in the 60s for both GPU's. Pegged at 60fps, even when fighting 6 wolves. And the most annoying audio click I have ever heard... Troubleshooting now.

[App4that]

Well shit. In crossfire Witcher is almost unplayable. In the character menu the unlock-able skill strobe and there is an annoying audio click. Amazing news is the 390 runs ultra with hairworks on at a solid 50fps with drops into the 40s. That's amazing. Need to find out why the crossfire won't work with Witcher though, if it won't work with Fallout 4 then the whole purpose for doing the crossfire is gone.

[xAcid9]

Yeah. The memory's been improved but ultimately it doesn't make too much of a difference. If you have a hynix 290(x) you can clock it over 1500mhz and make bios tweaks if you really want that 1 extra fps

Memory on 290 series doesn't go well over 1450mhz, yes you can overclocked to 1500mhz+ but the memory controller can't really cope without producing error/s.

Memory timing on 390 is tighter thus make them having less latency which improve performance in CPU bottleneck game.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Yeah. The memory's been improved but ultimately it doesn't make too much of a difference. If you have a hynix 290(x) you can clock it over 1500mhz and make bios tweaks if you really want that 1 extra fps

The new ones can clock to 1700mhz. Not too commonly found in the old ones.

[App4that]

Witcher 3 is a lost cause for the Crossfire... Tried uninstalling the installing the drivers, every frequency configuration I could think of, and every trick I could find online. The menu still flashes like a strobe light.

On topic in Witcher with all the bells ringing I'm using 350w with the 390. That's with the 290 at idle. My money is on the 390 using the same amount of power as a 970.

[xAcid9]

Witcher 3 is a lost cause for the Crossfire... Tried uninstalling the installing the drivers, every frequency configuration I could think of, and every trick I could find online. The menu still flashes like a strobe light.

On topic in Witcher with all the bells ringing I'm using 350w with the 390. That's with the 290 at idle. My money is on the 390 using the same amount of power as a 970.

You can try force AFR rendering but that usually introduce flickering at game menu or interface and microstutters.

Sadly crossfire profile usually come late on gameworks game. (¬_¬)

[App4that]

You can try force AFR rendering but that usually introduce flickering at game menu or interface and microstutters.

Sadly crossfire profile usually come late on gameworks game. (¬_¬)

. I'd be upset if I wasn't able to play at the same settings using the 390, but I can so I'm chill. If Fallout 4 has similar issues I'll just pull the 290 and sell it.

[SansVarnic]

I have no idea what it means :lol:

This might be useful.

 

TDP = Thermal Design Power

 

[afyeung]

Memory on 290 series doesn't go well over 1450mhz, yes you can overclocked to 1500mhz+ but the memory controller can't really cope without producing error/s.

Memory timing on 390 is tighter thus make them having less latency which improve performance in CPU bottleneck game.

You are missing the point. And it is true that the 390 series has better memory timings, but this is only logical considering that they had over a year to mod the bios. And many people can use that same bios on their 290 series card. My point was that the difference between a 290 and a 390 at the same clock speeds is almost negligible. And unless you are an engineer from AMD, what proof do you have that "the memory controller can't really cope without producing errors"? Hynix memory on 290(x) was designed to run stable at 1500mhz. It can be clocked passed that and be just fine. 

[afyeung]

You can try force AFR rendering but that usually introduce flickering at game menu or interface and microstutters.

Sadly crossfire profile usually come late on gameworks game. (¬_¬)

It's been half a year lol. AMD has no intentions on fixing the game's crossfire profile. AMD Roy told me this himself. https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/3j2yhx/amd_crossfire_users_does_witcher_3_work_yet/ this is a good source to try to fix Witcher 3. 

[FellTheSky]

 

http://www.tweaktown.com/tweakipedia/37/sapphire-radeon-r9-290x-tri-x-overclocked-power-consumption-numbers/index.html

[App4that]

http://www.tweaktown.com/tweakipedia/37/sapphire-radeon-r9-290x-tri-x-overclocked-power-consumption-numbers/index.html

Hey! You figured out why I posted this topic, what you posted is bullshit LOL. And I just proved it to be bullshit.

[FellTheSky]

Hey! You figured out why I posted this topic, what you posted is bullshit LOL. And I just proved it to be bullshit.

Not really, running valley doesnt really show us anything. Running BF4 with supersampling on a 64 person map is a huge load both on the gpu's and the cpu.

Running a synthetic bench doesnt load the CPU at all

I ll change my mind if you show us a video running bf4 with supersampling and show the wattage meter

[don_svetlio]

Not really, running valley doesnt really show us anything. Running BF4 with supersampling on a 64 person map is a huge load both on the gpu's and the cpu.

Running a synthetic bench doesnt load the CPU at all

I ll change my mind if you show us a video running bf4 with supersampling and show the wattage meter

There is NO way 2 290Xs can pull 1kW of power - simply impossible. 750W? Sure, they can reach that. 1kW? Bullshit to the extreme.

EDIT: Modded bioses do not count

EDIT2: 850W with OC is also possible. 1kW is not.