AMD solves R9 290 throttling problem with a new driver

[Mo5]

According to ExtremeTech some R9 290 cards were experiencing overheating and thus throttling due to fan control problem. AMD solved the problem with a driver update.

 

 

 

According to AMD, the problem was caused by improper fan settings on retail cards and imprecise tuning that relied on power modulation (PWM) rather than a specified RPM speed. As a result, the company said, some retail cards that were supposed to be spinning at 47% were actually spinning as much as 350 RPM slower — thus causing the overheat issue. Last night the company pushed a new driver that would supposedly fix this by relying on RPM tuning to set fan speeds rather than PWM manipulation.

 

Source: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/170636-well-that-was-quick-amd-solves-r9-290-throttling-problem-with-a-new-driver

[Gunzkewl]

According to ExtremeTech some R9 290 cards were experiencing overheating and thus throttling due to fan control problem. AMD solved the problem with a driver update.

 

 

Source: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/170636-well-that-was-quick-amd-solves-r9-290-throttling-problem-with-a-new-driver

Good to see AMD releasing updates fast enough

[meneervent]

Awesome, even more noise.

It's really not understandable why AMD doesn't let aftermarket coolers to come out.

[juretrn]

PWM stands for pulse-width modulation.

[Derangel]

Awesome, even more noise.

It's really not understandable why AMD doesn't let aftermarket coolers to come out.

 

The, at most, 350RPM difference won't significantly increase noise.

 

Why do you assume they're not "letting" coolers come out? Stock on the cards is still low across the board. AIBs don't have enough chips to fulfill orders of stock cards much less magically conjure up more supply for multiple 290 and 290X SKUs. I'd like to remind you that the 290 and 290X are using the same chip, they are both eating into a very finite amount of supply at the moment.

[Humbug]

The 290x has a bigger throttling problem than the 290.

[That Norwegian Guy]

Awesome, even more noise.t.

 

You read my mind!

[mr moose]

Will this have any effect on the benchmarks slick did?  given that he pushed the card as hard as he could, would the old driver had held back the OC at all? 

[eshbop]

Will this have any effect on the benchmarks slick did?  given that he pushed the card as hard as he could, would the old driver had held back the OC at all? 

As long as he turned the max fan speed up when he overclocked it the numbers should be the same.

 

Edit: the Google Doc says that he did turn the fan speed up, so yeah, no change.