The R9 290X GPU is known to become rather hot and cooling this chip with a reference and even a custom aircooler can be quite a challenge. In almost any case you will see thermal throttling. In this article we're going to compare the results of an ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II Cooled by Raijintek Morpheus versus the same card with its stock ASUS DirectCU II cooler. At this point a little teaser: the differences can be as high as 19 percent!


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As we already mentioned, in this article we're going to have a closer look at the differences between the factory cooled ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II and the same card equipped with Raijinteks new Morpheus VGA cooler. First of all we're going to have a closer look at both, the Raijintek Morpheus as well as the ASUS Direct CU II cooler to understand the differences. Afterwards we will run the cards through our set of recent games with stock clocks as well as overclocked. Apparently we will also show you some temperatures.

ASUS R9 290X Direct CU II - Raijintek Morpheus

With the Morpheus Raijintek has introduced an aftermarket VGA cooler, that is compatible with most cards from AMD as well as NVIDIA. This particular cooler features a whopping 12 heatpipes and each and every one of them has six milimiter diameter. Other than that overall manufacturing quality is on a high level and there is for instance a nickel plated copper base plate with mirror finish. In fact, the entire cooler has been nickel plated, which definitely adds to the looks and also to the surface quality. As you can see from the pictures we find a rich bundle to mount the Morpheus on different graphic cards. Included in the delivery are thermal pads and three differently sized aluminum heatsinks for memory and VRM area, which are compatible with HD 7970 and R9 290/290X reference cards. Raijinteks Morpheus VGA cooler is actually compatible with AMD: R9 290/290X reference, R9 280X reference, R9 270/270X reference as well as ASUS DirectCU II card. In terms of compatibility we find the following GPUs on the list: GTX 650, 650 Ti, 660, 660 Ti,760, 770, 780 and 780 Ti. What’s not included in the bundle are the fans, whereas the cooler itself weighs 515g and measures 254 x 98 x 44 millimeter. Other than that block features two years warranty and mounting the Morpheus is rather easy thanks to the decent manual.

ASUS R9 290X Direct CU II - Aircooling DirectCU II

This version of the DirectCU II cooler comes with no less than five heatpipes, which feature a GSG shape. There is one heatpipe with a massive diameter of ten millimeter and other than there are two more with eight millimeter diameter and another two which measure six millimeters. The heatpipes have been nickel plated and are in direct contact with the GPU core. Soldered to the heatpipes you find the fin stack which is being provided with fresh air via two 95mm fans. The fan closer to the I/O shield is a hybrid axial/radial fan ASUS like to call "CoolTech". They claim that this fan is able to provide a higher airflow than standard axial or radial fans at the same noise level. In case of the second fan you find a standard axial fan. Both fans are being manufactured by Everflow and strangely share the same model name, T129215SU. Overall the cooler is well made and the finish is on a very reasonable level too.
This cooler definitely plays in another league than the reference cooler from AMD. But still, even this custom aircooler is just about able to not make the 290X throttle at stock clocks.

Page 1 - Introduction	Page 9 - Call of Duty Black Ops 2
Page 2 - Test Setup	Page 10 - Sleeping Dogs
Page 3 - 3DMark Fire Strike	Page 11 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Page 4 - Unigine Heaven 4.0	Page 12 - Metro: Last Light
Page 5 - BattleField 4	Page 13 - Power Consumption
Page 6 - BattleField 3	Page 14 - Temperatures
Page 7 - Bioshock Infinite	Page 15 - Index
Page 8 - Crysis 3	Page 16 - Conclusion