Overall the PowerColor TurboDuo R9 285 is a very quiet card. In idle we measured about 31 degrees Celsius. The fans are inaudible in 2D mode and quiet in 3D mode.

You may begin to wonder why the card easily hits 80 degrees when other reviewers reported temperatures closer to 70 degrees. We checked every part of the cooler and did not find any traces of damage. We tried using fresh thermal paste, which shaved off two degrees. PowerColor informed us that the test sample probably features a subpar GPU with more leakage. It is possible that consumers will also get similar cards, but there is no reason for concern, as 78 degrees under full load is perfectly safe.

Of course, it is possible to trade silence for lower temperatures by cranking up the fans. We tried speeding up the fans to 49%, which generated a bit more noise. The noise was bearable and the load temperature dropped to 68 degrees, a full 10 degrees less than in Auto mode.

Most users will not notice the card fans in Auto mode. Once the GPU starts heating up, there are no abrupt fan speed changes.




Image below shows the values afer thermal compound was changed and the fans are set to spin at 49% RPM.