What is the difference between Core Clock and Boost Clock?

[MoonKnightSpidey]

Look at these two links. Same clock speed, but one is "Core Clock" and the other is "Boost Clock" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129316 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202043

[Vegetable]

Look at these two links. Same clock speed, but one is "Core Clock" and the other is "Boost Clock" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129316 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202043

Best way I can put it, when the card is under load, the boost clock is the effective clock speed assuming its not overheating.

[FatPenguin]

core clock is what it is running at when the card is not under load. boost is when it is doing something demanding. 

[TheRandomness]

The core clock becomes the boost clock if thermals allow.

[MoonKnightSpidey]

Best way I can put it, when the card is under load, the boost clock is the effective clock speed assuming its not overheating.

So which is better, a higher core clock or a higher boost clock, which card should I get?

[Nexxus]

So which is better, a higher core clock or a higher boost clock, which card should I get?

both are importaint, but for gaming boost

[Senzelian]

Someone at Newegg screwed up I guess.

The base clock is what the card will reach under any circumstances, as long as it doesn't hit its thermal limit.
The boost clock will always be above that and depends on the temperature. The GPU will automatically adjust it.

But in this case one of the informations is wrong. 947Mhz is the R9 290's boost clock and not base clock. The R9290 doesn't seem to have a base clock and just always adjusts the frequency depending on the temperature.
 

both are importaint, but for gaming boost

Have you actually looked at the two newegg pages? One says 947 base clock while the other says 947 boost clock. One of the informations is wrong. Apart from that a higher base clock is always better.

Edit: Read post below. I derped... x.x

[manikyath]

the core clock is what the chip runs at "theoretically".

 

but modern GPUs can accelerate themselves if the cooler and power suffices.

the "boost clock" listed, is something the card manufacturer tells you it can reach, you'll probably get faster than the listed speed tho.

[ManWithBeard1990]

Boost clock is what the system will try to run at "when conditions allow it." What this means is it will do it if the temperatures are low enough, and the nature of the workload is such that the VRMs can supply enough clean power to the chip to do it at that speed. This applies to GPU Boost, but also to Turbo Boost/CORE on CPU's.

[byalexandr]

Someone at Newegg screwed up I guess.

The base clock is what the card will reach under any circumstances, as long as it doesn't hit its thermal limit.

The boost clock will always be above that and depends on the temperature. The GPU will automatically adjust it.

But in this case one of the informations is wrong. 947Mhz is the R9 290's boost clock and not base clock. The R9290 doesn't seem to have a base clock and just always adjusts the frequency depending on the temperature.

Have you actually looked at the two newegg pages? One says 947 base clock while the other says 947 boost clock. One of the informations is wrong. Apart from that a higher base clock is always better.

947MHz is the core clock, it stays that way unless you allow it to OC itself or OC it manually. AMD cards don't have that nonsense like Nvidia cards.

[Senzelian]

947MHz is the core clock, it stays that way unless you allow it to OC itself or OC it manually. AMD cards don't have that nonsense like Nvidia cards.

Other sites like Skinflint say the following:

"Chip clock: up to 947MHz" http://skinflint.co.uk/msi-r9-290-4gd5-v803-842r-a1015780.html

So I would say its a boost clock. It's the same statement on the AMD page.

http://tldrify.com/ct5

(Scroll down and click "R9 200 series specs".)

Edit: Me much stupid... ._.'' I totally forgot that any card "boosts" in some way, cause they don't run at their full frequency all the time. I derped out. Time to go to bed... x)