4K: Call of Duty Ghosts / Far Cry 3
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Far Cry 3
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PowerColor Devil 13 R9 290X Dual Core Review
- Thread starter SKYMTL
- Start date
4K: Hitman Absolution / Metro: Last Light
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Hitman Absolution
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Metro: Last Light
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4K: Thief / Tomb Raider
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Thief
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Tomb Raider
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Overclocking Results
We’ve now come to what may be the most painful part of this review. While PowerColor’s Devil 13 -particularly when set to the ear-piercing Turbo Mode- has a good amount of thermal overhead, AMD’s PowerTune holds things back to an excessive degree. In short, we hit 1072MHz on the cores while the GDDR5 leveled out at 5544MHz with plenty of additional temperature overhead.
Since AMD’s software stack doesn’t have “reasons” to indicate what is limiting clock speeds like some NVIDIA-centric applications, it’s entirely possible that the cores reached their effective power limit regardless of the Devil 13’s quad 8-pin input. In layman’s terms this means PowerTune artificially scales back frequencies so the chips’ internal components don’t draw more than they were designed to at a given temperature. Upping the Power Limit had absolutely no effect in this situation.
The results are below.
Overclocking Results
We’ve now come to what may be the most painful part of this review. While PowerColor’s Devil 13 -particularly when set to the ear-piercing Turbo Mode- has a good amount of thermal overhead, AMD’s PowerTune holds things back to an excessive degree. In short, we hit 1072MHz on the cores while the GDDR5 leveled out at 5544MHz with plenty of additional temperature overhead.
Since AMD’s software stack doesn’t have “reasons” to indicate what is limiting clock speeds like some NVIDIA-centric applications, it’s entirely possible that the cores reached their effective power limit regardless of the Devil 13’s quad 8-pin input. In layman’s terms this means PowerTune artificially scales back frequencies so the chips’ internal components don’t draw more than they were designed to at a given temperature. Upping the Power Limit had absolutely no effect in this situation.
The results are below.
Conclusion
PowerColor took a relatively large risk when creating their R9 290X Devil 13. Due to the extreme heat produced by AMD’s Hawaii XT cores, many thought water cooling was an absolute necessity and that’s the route AMD eventually went with their excellent R9 295X2. Those beliefs were proven wrong throughout our review but a number of fears associated with heat buildup did end up being somewhat justified. The Devil 13 certainly isn’t a slam dunk but it’s good enough to possibly entice power users to take a long, hard look at what PowerColor is offering.
Performance will be front and center with a card like this and make no mistake about it, PowerColor has delivered in spades. From 1600P to 4K resolutions, the Devil 13 is able to go toe to toe against some of the best, most expensive dual card solutions around. When given the small GDDR5 frequency bump it becomes the fastest graphics card currently available, though by the narrowest of margins. More importantly, even with an air cooler backstopping this show, thermal throttling never became a concern.
Temperatures did however factor into this equation since it takes a titanic effort to bring them under control. While the Devil 13’s default fan speed setting is quieter than the calamitous racket put up by a pair of reference R9 290X cards, when its Turbo setting is selected, things quickly degenerate. That’s a shame since there’s really no reason for PowerColor’s additional mode; it doesn’t grant the card one iota more performance.
Unlike NVIDIA’s Boost, AMD’s PowerTune algorithm doesn’t have the capability to take advantage of additional thermal overhead so the Devil 13’s core sits at 1GHz while the fans arbitrarily try to disperse heat that isn’t even there. Sure it’s great to see sub-75°C temperatures from an air cooled dual R9 290X card but what’s the point if power limits still step into the path of overclocking?
The standard mode is really the way to go here. It offers exactly what PowerColor was hoping to achieve: great performance out of a dual R9 290X card without having to resort to water cooling. This really is impressive considering there’s still a good amount of overhead before AMD’s thermal limits would begin throttling clock speeds. We just wish PowerColor had included their own software fan speed controls so RPMs could be aligned with temperature and users would be allowed to sacrifice a few degrees for a quieter gaming experience. Ironically, this was exactly the same observation we made of the HD 7990 Devil 13 nearly two years ago and nothing’s changed since then.
With all of that being said, the Devil 13 can be considered a novelty rather than an effort that will draw in many gamers. It is a rare specimen which has an outstanding design and it claimed the mantle as today’s most powerful graphics card. Bragging rights never looked so good. However, small form factor situations are effectively impossible due to the prodigious being heat dumped into the Devil 13’s immediate vicinity and the triple slot height makes mounting a challenge.
When overall cost is factored into the equation, the sane solution would be to save a few hundred bucks with dual individual custom cooled R9 290X cards or two GTX 780 Ti’s rather than go the Devil’s $1400 route. However, we’ve all got a little “devil” on our left shoulder that doesn’t care about sane, rational decisions. This is the card to satisfy that irrational call. For anyone that wants to ignore the voice of proper reasoning and go straight for some the best performance money can buy, PowerColor’s Devil 13 fits the bill perfectly.
Conclusion
PowerColor took a relatively large risk when creating their R9 290X Devil 13. Due to the extreme heat produced by AMD’s Hawaii XT cores, many thought water cooling was an absolute necessity and that’s the route AMD eventually went with their excellent R9 295X2. Those beliefs were proven wrong throughout our review but a number of fears associated with heat buildup did end up being somewhat justified. The Devil 13 certainly isn’t a slam dunk but it’s good enough to possibly entice power users to take a long, hard look at what PowerColor is offering.
Performance will be front and center with a card like this and make no mistake about it, PowerColor has delivered in spades. From 1600P to 4K resolutions, the Devil 13 is able to go toe to toe against some of the best, most expensive dual card solutions around. When given the small GDDR5 frequency bump it becomes the fastest graphics card currently available, though by the narrowest of margins. More importantly, even with an air cooler backstopping this show, thermal throttling never became a concern.
Temperatures did however factor into this equation since it takes a titanic effort to bring them under control. While the Devil 13’s default fan speed setting is quieter than the calamitous racket put up by a pair of reference R9 290X cards, when its Turbo setting is selected, things quickly degenerate. That’s a shame since there’s really no reason for PowerColor’s additional mode; it doesn’t grant the card one iota more performance.
Unlike NVIDIA’s Boost, AMD’s PowerTune algorithm doesn’t have the capability to take advantage of additional thermal overhead so the Devil 13’s core sits at 1GHz while the fans arbitrarily try to disperse heat that isn’t even there. Sure it’s great to see sub-75°C temperatures from an air cooled dual R9 290X card but what’s the point if power limits still step into the path of overclocking?
The standard mode is really the way to go here. It offers exactly what PowerColor was hoping to achieve: great performance out of a dual R9 290X card without having to resort to water cooling. This really is impressive considering there’s still a good amount of overhead before AMD’s thermal limits would begin throttling clock speeds. We just wish PowerColor had included their own software fan speed controls so RPMs could be aligned with temperature and users would be allowed to sacrifice a few degrees for a quieter gaming experience. Ironically, this was exactly the same observation we made of the HD 7990 Devil 13 nearly two years ago and nothing’s changed since then.
With all of that being said, the Devil 13 can be considered a novelty rather than an effort that will draw in many gamers. It is a rare specimen which has an outstanding design and it claimed the mantle as today’s most powerful graphics card. Bragging rights never looked so good. However, small form factor situations are effectively impossible due to the prodigious being heat dumped into the Devil 13’s immediate vicinity and the triple slot height makes mounting a challenge.
When overall cost is factored into the equation, the sane solution would be to save a few hundred bucks with dual individual custom cooled R9 290X cards or two GTX 780 Ti’s rather than go the Devil’s $1400 route. However, we’ve all got a little “devil” on our left shoulder that doesn’t care about sane, rational decisions. This is the card to satisfy that irrational call. For anyone that wants to ignore the voice of proper reasoning and go straight for some the best performance money can buy, PowerColor’s Devil 13 fits the bill perfectly.
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