One of the best things we did for our Radeon R9 290 review was pop off AMD’s reference cooler and attach Arctic’s Accelero Xtreme III. Today, we show you how we did this, we dive deeper into the results, and ultimately recommend the aftermarket heat sink.
How big is the Arctic Accelero Hybrid ii-120’s cooler?
The Arctic Accelero Hybrid II-120’s main cooler has a 7.0 x 7.0 x 2.8 cm base, 41 cm of tubing, and a 14.9 x 12.0 x 2.7 cm radiator, according to my measurements. The aluminum heatsink for the back of the card weighs 340 grams on its own, with dimensions of 21.7 x 9.8 x 2.3 cm.
What is Arctic’s hybrid ii-120?
The Hybrid II-120 is Arctic’s second foray into liquid GPU cooling. The original Hybrid is a combined air/liquid cooling solution with a small fan blowing over the VRM.
Should I buy a Radeon R9 290 for $400?
Obviously, if you spend $400 on a new Radeon R9 290 and immediately take it apart, your warranty is void. Also, remember that applying heat sinks using thermal adhesive creates a fairly permanent bond. There is no changing your mind once you go down this path.
Will the Accelero Xtreme III void my GPU warranty?
Well, we’re still waiting for partner cards to show up with third-party thermal solutions. So we thought we’d put together a more comprehensive walk-through of getting the Accelero Xtreme III working and measuring what it can do. Obviously, if you spend $400 on a new Radeon R9 290 and immediately take it apart, your warranty is void.
What is AMD’s R9 290?
AMD is finishing up the launch of its new lineup with the R9 290. It’s not the Big Dog; that was launched last week. This one is the big dog’s slightly littler brother. The R9 290 has 2,560 shaders as compared to the R9 290Xs 2,816 and its top clock is reduced to 947 MHz (from 1,000 MHz).
How many power connectors does the R9 290 have?
The R9 290 has two power connectors, in an 8-pin + 6-pin PCIe configuration. The R9 290 follows in its big brother’s footsteps and eschews the old Crossfire bridge in favor of DMA Crossfire, which shares its data through the PCIe bus.
How does PowerTune work on the R9 290X?
On the R9 290X, it functioned to put the card in “Uber” mode, which apparently just changed the max fan speed from 40% to 55%. With the new PowerTune technology, that enabled greater performance (by keeping the card cooler) at the expense of added noise.
