[Troubleshooting] AMD R9 290X 8GB throttling down due to power issues?
Hi all!
I got the Sapphire R9 290X 8GB edition. Been experiencing some strange issues with it. Playing Shadow of Mordor with the HD pack, the game crashes because Windows ran out of ram. I got 16gb (4x4GB DDR3), so this is weird. Arma 3 drops down to ~30 FPS on ultra, and just ran Star Swarm with the Mantle API, Extreme settings, and follow scenario. this is what I got:
Test Duration: 360 Seconds
Total Frames: 18326
Average FPS: 50.90
Average Unit Count: 4476
Maximum Unit Count: 5722
Average Batches/MS: 1315.68
Maximum Batches/MS: 6040.89
Average Batch Count: 24184
Maximum Batch Count: 128646
I saw the star swarm FPS drop down to about ~4 FPS one time.
Now, I suspect this might have to do with power delivery? I got a 80 plus bronze-rated 630 w beQuiet! PSU, but before I shell out and get a 1000w PSU, I'd like to confirm its not because I have the GPU in quiet mode, or anything similar to that.
So, are these numbers what I can expect with this GPU?
Posted Feb 9, 2015, 5:58 PM UTC
First of all, its probably not your PSU. 630 watts at 80+ Bronze is more than enough for a 290X.
What resolution are you playing at?
1920x1080.
Also, I run Windows 7 and the CPU is an i7 3770k at stock speed.
Well first things first, have you updated to the latest video drivers?
Its most likely because your GPU is in silent mode. Silent mode should be getting you over 60FPS at ultra on ARMA3 though. Set it to uber and see if your performance increases. If it doesn't, run another benchmarking program like Unigine valley or Fraps and use a utility to monitor your temperatures in silent mode. If the GPU is thermal throttling, that would be what's causing your problems.
Is silent mode a software setting, or a physical switch on the GPU itself? I'll try your recommendations, thanks!
I believe there is actually a switch on the GPU that changes the BIOS to Uber which is the performance mode.