Temperature
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Temperature wise the Powercolor PCS+ R9 290X is quite impressive; our thermal gun registers 30-34C on idle and upwards of 68-74C under load when overclocked and at base. For this test, we moved the PCS+ R9 290X 8GB to an open air test-bench setup so temperatures are not affected by other components. To the left, we see temperatures when the PCS+ R9 290X is at idle and at 100% load to the right. Use the scale on the right of each picture to determine temperature at specific parts of the card. Our temperature readings were in line with what we attained from software readings of the thermal die at idle and load.
Power Consumption
In this graph we see the power consumption for the PCS+ R9 290X 8GB; take note of our test system specs in the Test Setup section of this article. Unlike Nvidia’s new lie up, the flagship Hawaii chips were never known for their power efficiency. We see a rather big leap in power usage when applying an overclock so make sure your power supply has enough juice to run the PCS+ R9 290X 8GB, Powercolor recommends a 750 W power supply.
Fan Noise
The Powercolor PCS+ R9 290X does an amazing job at staying cool using its massive heat sink and three 76mm fans. Pushing the card to the limit, the thermal die on the PCS+ R9 290X never reported anything over 75C, but it appears there is a preset fan curve that specifically target 75C as the max allowed temperature. On a gaming load, the three fans can reach 70% maximum speed which gets a bit noisy, but nowhere near as close as the awful reference coolers the R9 290X had. At 54.6 dB, the PCS+ R9 290X is audible but not bothersome. Of course that opinion depends on the user. so you can decide for yourself.
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