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Need help picking heatsink for R9 290 VRM

92K views 124 replies 44 participants last post by  Rainmaker91 
#1 ·
Hi, I've got my R9 290 in the mail the other day, and am eager to put it under water - currently my 7950 is hooked up to the system, but not powered.

I just need some help in picking a heatsink for the VRM. For memory I have some generic aluminum heatsinks, but I feel like those wont be sufficient for the VRM. For the 7950, it was not a reference card.. so it had a separate VRM heatsink that I cant use on this card.

Is there any sort of quality VRM heatsink out there, or are those only sold with air cooling kits like Accelero or Gelid? If not, what should I use?
 
#3 ·
Hi and thanks for reply

Arent those way too tiny for cooling VRM? I mean, there is very little mass to them; I have trouble believing they could do better than 90c or so.

As long as there is clearance, shouldnt the larger 14x14mm ones work better?

Here, I found a couple of things that seemed interesting.. just have no idea if they are possible!

Thermalright HR-09 T(1/2/3) 84(L) x 17(W) x 48(H)
or
Thermalright HR-09 T(4) 64(L) x 12(W) x 44(H)
Thermalright TR-VRM 5870 [Awesome that its for this exact thing, just cant find base dimensions. Plus, the mass is probably too much for tape.

Enzotech MST-81 -- 87(L) x 16(W) x 29.6(H)
and
Enzotech MST-88 -- 94(L) x 15(W) x 29.6(H)
^ Its like the tiny ones, but no cuts. I think this would cool much more evenly, and maybe even easier to apply?

Anyone have idea if tape is enough for those?
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by szeged View Post

They are fine for the vrms, especially if you have a fan pointing in their directiong. You can try to find some bigger ones but make sure they are solid copper imo.

the 14x14x14 ones will work as long as you have the clearance for them
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They will fall off since its not much surface area or material so they will get freakishly hot. You have to use glue with puny sinks like that. Did I mention they are puny? Hell any stick on sink is too frail for a card that has unlimited tdp and free range of voltage up to and past 1.5v. Here's to hoping for you guys that swiftech releases a 290 unisink.
 
#8 ·
lol
tongue.gif


@szeged I wont be able to have any fans : all fan slots are taken up and I already have a 1:4 3 pin adapter lol!

@ tsm106: So you think some 3m tape and, say, a MST-88 is a no-go? I tried to find some specifics and it looks like 250g/.5"^2 -- 12 tiny VRMs should add up to about that, dont you think? These heatsinks arent heavier than 90g.

@szeged2: I'd love for something like that, but I feel like the odds of a perfect fit (because a perfect fit is the only option
wink.gif
) is nearly 0.

P.S. anyone know the width of these cards/VRM area? I dont have the card by me now, but everyone seems to list length... no one but me cares about width.

Also, the silver squares should all be flush, vertically, and the electronics towards the "right" of them
AMD-Radeon-R9-290-4GB-GDDR5-PCB_15750.jpg
do not need cooling, but contact wont hurt them - as long as I put some thermal pad or tape inbetween, I hope?
 
#9 ·
The main vrm strip is easy. You can buy blocks of heatsink core off ebay for a 5 spot. Cut that to size grind it down and you have beefy heatsink. The problem are the triple clusters for memory, etc at the other end. Those are almost impossible to keep cool with stick on sinks, especially if you are over-volting.
 
#10 ·
Sorry, Im not really good with these terms. Im guessing you mean buy a nice chunk of "finned aluminum" and cut it to fit. If so, isnt it ok if I just buy one of the 5 listed above?

For the set of 3, I can see that is a pain. Im mostly concerned with cooling the long strip very well for now. The other set I'll just try to put on some of those cheap-o aluminum sinks and worry about improving it later.

I dont mean to come off as rude. Im just trying to be sure something like the Enzotech MST-88 or TR-09 will be an effective, safe, and practical way to cool the large set.
 
#14 ·
@szeged: Yeah, I understand. For my universal WB cooled 7950, I used the included dual fan assembly [Vapor-X] and re-mounted it. Worked awesomely and didnt claim a fan slot. I can definitely use a fan if needed, I just need to find my second 1:4 fan adapter.

@tsm106: Sweet, so anywhere from ~78-90mm should cover everything and have no obstructions.

@szeged: Are you saying to dremel out holes into the heatsinks so taht they can be mounted?
 
#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tsm106 View Post

Dude, I think yall are not realizing there is another vrm block to the left and down from the bios switch. That is the hard one to cool, not the long strip.
i know there is, im just not commenting on it since you have more knowledge about that part so i would rather he have to just listen to you instead of go through a half hearted post from me also
tongue.gif
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by szeged View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by tsm106 View Post

Dude, I think yall are not realizing there is another vrm block to the left and down from the bios switch. That is the hard one to cool, not the long strip.
i know there is, im just not commenting on it since you have more knowledge about that part so i would rather he have to just listen to you instead of go through a half hearted post from me also
tongue.gif
That's the one that falls off over time as you start to work the card harder and harder. The best mod I've seen thus far is costly cuz it requires killing the stock cooler. You cut off the vrm section on the stock cooler and mount it on the card. Yea, it's not a simple mod lol. It's in the 290 club thread.
 
#20 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tsm106 View Post

That's the one that falls off over time as you start to work the card harder and harder. The best mod I've seen thus far is costly cuz it requires killing the stock cooler. You cut off the vrm section on the stock cooler and mount it on the card. Yea, it's not a simple mod lol. It's in the 290 club thread.
ouch lol :x thats unfortunate indeed. I usually end up waiting for full cover blocks to avoid having to do all this lol.
 
#21 ·
@szeged: Problem with that is im not very good with dremel; I mean I could. But if its the difference of $15 from a pre-cut HS and a block, which might cool a tad better, its just not worth it to me. Cutting the FT-02 to fit a 3x180mm rad was enough for me
tongue.gif


@tsm106: Im following you 100%. I have some 14x14x8mm heatsinks spare. I can put 1/2 on and worry about them later, no? Yes, that will limit my voltage.. but I can fix that later. I just want the long strip taken care of for now.

@szeged2: Yup, thats one of the ones I was looking at above [Enzotech MST-88 -- 94(L) x 15(W) x 29.6(H)] As long as tape works im set. TSM106, do you think that will be a workable heatsink? Or also the HR-09 Thermalright?

@tsm106.2: So these guys will fall off? I cant cut the original assembly as I intend to include it when reselling it. What about trying to tie it down with the push-screw area and the VRM holes already on the PCB?

@szeged3: Yeah, but thats a big chunk of change every time you buy a GPU :/
 
#22 ·
Quote:
That looks good for the main vrm strip. Since it's longer than what you need, you just snip off the extrusions and shape the ends so you can drill a hole to mount them.

When I did gpu only, I had a fan over the vrm strip. Thinking about it again, I would not hesitate to put a small fan on the triple vrm block as well, aka vrm1.
 
#24 ·
Ended up going with the HR-09 because the MST-88 length is "inflated" about 12mm because of the mounting area. Cut it off and it'd be much easier to dremel the HR-09, which appears to include some mounting parts as well.. hopefully they work on at least one side?? [doubt it..]

Thanks for all the help guys. Will update this.. as long as it goes smoothly and wouldnt be an embarrassment to unbury the thread xD
 
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