First R9 295X2 Reviews, Beats 780 Ti SLI

[TERAFLOP]

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/04/08/radeon-r9-295x2-review-amd-delivers-on-a-promise-with-exciting-liquid-cooled-gpu/

I frankly didn't think it was possible but it beats the 780 Ti in SLI.
 

 

 

1: A Radeon 295X2 is slightly quieter under load than two GTX 780 Tis. It is dramatically quieter than a single reference 290x.

2: A Radeon 295X2 is significantly cooler under load than even a single GTX 780 Ti. Nvidia has very efficient air cooling, but the cards still operate at a max temperature of about 84 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the 295X2 doesn’t crest above 60 degrees Celsius while under heavy load. And gone are the days of your 7990 blowing hot exhaust back into your chassis — with an assist from Asetek, AMD got the thermals right.

I didn’t have time to measure power consumption in a meaningful way, but even on paper I can tell you this is one area Nvidia will continue to dominate. The 295X2 can siphon up to 500W of juice, and it’s crucial that your power supply is capable of supplying 28A of current to each of the two required 8-pin PCIe connectors. AMD should have a list of compatible power supplies online at www.amd.com/r9.

Still, for gamers not versed in the ways of liquid cooling, this is a damn exciting — and low risk — entry point.

 

The temperatures are nothing short of miraculous.

The Radeon R9 295×2 launches April 21st for $1499 and should be available via leading online retailers.

 

Tom's Hardware




PCPer
 

Performance

It seems like we are saying this more often than ever before, but the new AMD Radeon R9 295X2 is clearly the fastest graphics card for gaming on the planet. With a pair of full-speed Hawaii GPUs running at over 1.0 GHz on 5,632 stream processors and 8GB of total graphics memory, the R9 295X2 impresses on the list of specifications and then does so again and again in our gaming testing. In only a couple of cases did the pair of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti cards running in SLI outperform the R9 295X2 at 2560x1440 (GRID 2 and Skyrim) and only once did it happen when running at the ultimate flagship resolution, 3840x2160 (Skyrim).

Everywhere else, the Radeon R9 295X2 presented a dominant performance with gaming frame rates that were both fast and surprisingly consistent! Anyone that debates the value of the storm created by PC Perspective and other sites about smooth, low variance frame times needs to be taken off the Internet. We, as a community, forced a company to recognize its faults and fix them and because of that we have a much better product with the R9 295X2 than we would have otherwise. AMD has progressed enough to even offer better frame pacing that NVIDIA's SLI in several instances including Battlefield 4 and Bioshock Infinite.

www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/AMD-Radeon-R9-295X2-8GB-Graphics-Card-Review/Power-Sound-and-Closing-Thoughts

All Reviews :
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/04/08/amd-radeon-r9-295x2-review/1

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_295x2_review,1.html

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-radeon-r9-295x2-review

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7930/the-amd-radeon-r9-295x2-review

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-295x2-review-benchmark-performance,3799.html

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/68381-amd-radeon-r9-295x2/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_295_X2/

[TheNinjaNextDor]

$1500 isn't that bad of a deal now lol

[TERAFLOP]

$1500 isn't that bad of a deal now lol

That's a lot of money but objectively speaking it's half what Nvidia is asking for the Titan Z and only $100 north of two reference 780 Ti cards which the 295X2 handily outperforms.

[tedjani]

[CarlosRex]

The testing was done on Nvidia's new optimized R337 drivers so for the 295X2 to clearly outperform the 780 TI 2-way SLI is actually quite remarkable.

[TechFan@ic]

Wow 60c under load ? This is going to be an overclocker's dream. Can't wait to see how far Luke will push it. Hopefully he'll test more than just two games this time around.

[Lord Pantaloons]

when the fuck did forbes start doing hardware benchmarks?

[TechFan@ic]

when the fuck did forbes start doing hardware benchmarks?

They're not that great but they're almost always first.

[Lord Pantaloons]

They're not that great but they're almost always first.

I think I'll wait to see the results from sources I actually trust, besides I don't know what everyone is so surprised at. The primary reason the 290x was slower than the 780Ti is because even with aftermarket dual fan coolers the temps weren't in check now that it's water cooled it can actually run at it's rated speeds and faster. I want to see two water cooled 780Ti's put up against this though to put them both on a level playing field.

[TechFan@ic]

I think I'll wait to see the results from sources I actually trust, besides I don't know what everyone is so surprised at. The primary reason the 290x was slower than the 780Ti is because even with aftermarket dual fan coolers the temps weren't in check now that it's water cooled it can actually run at it's rated speeds and faster. I want to see two water cooled 780Ti's put up against this though to put them both on a level playing field.

I'm personally waiting for Anandtech as we speak. Keep in mind two watercooled 780 Ti's will be much more expensive than one R9 295X2 and will require two PCIe slots.

What's also helping the card is the new Crossfire XDMA engine which does improve scaling. So one Hawaii(290X) GPU might not be as powerful as a fully unlocked GK110(780 Ti) but two Hawaii GPUs do seem to scale better.

[Lord Pantaloons]

I'm personally waiting for Anandtech as we speak. Keep in mind two watercooled 780 Ti's will be much more expensive than one R9 295X2 and will require two PCIe slots.

What's also helping the card is the new Crossfire XDMA engine which does improve scaling. So one Hawaii(290X) GPU might not be as powerful as a fully unlocked GK110(780 Ti) but two Hawaii GPUs do seem to scale better.

I don't care about slot usage and cost, I want to know how the hardware matches up plain and simple.

[Exotath]

I'm not all that surprised, hasn't the r9 series always been better at 4k?

[TechFan@ic]

I don't care about slot usage and cost, I want to know how the hardware matches up plain and simple.

I'd love to discuss the architectural aspects but perhaps in a different thread. I'll just quickly point out that a Hawaii is a 6.2 Billion transistor chip & a GK110 is a 7.2 Billion transistor chip that's a 1 billion transistor delta so you can't fairly compare the hardware directly from a pure architectural stand point.

[TERAFLOP]

I'm not all that surprised, hasn't the r9 series always been better at 4k?

Perhaps.. but the first graph is for 1440p.

[Lord Pantaloons]

I'd love to discuss the architectural aspects but perhaps in a different thread. I'll just quickly point out that a Hawaii is a 6.2 Billion transistor chip & a GK110 is a 7.2 Billion transistor chip that's a 1 billion transistor delta so you can't fairly compare the hardware directly from a pure architectural stand point.

Not exactly what I'm talking about but considering that they are both high end cards that compete with each other I think a comparison would be fair.

[daemonowner]

How the metric fuck did AMD put two 290X's on one card with a single 120mm radiator, beating the performance of SLI 780Ti's while only reaching 60C. I call bullshit. I'm waiting for reviews I can trust.

[TechFan@ic]

Not exactly what I'm talking about but considering that they are both high end cards that compete with each other I think a comparison would be fair.

The GTX 790 will likely release soon since Titan Z was announced so we'll have a more easily identifiable comparison by then. However if a 295X2 does outperform two 780 Ti's then it's going to give the 790 a really hard time.

[daemonowner]

@LinusTech Make sure to benchmark the 295X2 non-OC'd as well as OC'd to find the non OC 100% load temperatures with a single 120mm rad. Also, if it's possible to swap out the radiator that could be interesting.

[MetroP]

temps and power are surprisingly low.

[Dragonzeanse]

Once again, AMD piledrives Nvidia in terms of price-to-performance. lol $3000 dual titan card. Why do I worry that this is too good to be true?

[wpirobotbuilder]

How the metric fuck did AMD put two 290X's on one card with a single 120mm radiator, beating the performance of SLI 780Ti's while only reaching 60C. I call bullshit. I'm waiting for reviews I can trust.

Why BS? It's not like Forbes has any bias towards AMD or NVidia, and their results, if accurate, will be verified in a short while by Tom's, Anand, etc.

 

Liquid cooling has always been superior to air cooling. On a custom loop you'd be expecting lower temperatures and less noise. By making a tradeoff with temperature and noise, they got it down to one radiator with acceptable temps and noise. (Btw, not a liquid cooling expert, feel free to point out stupid statements)

 

Good job, AMD.

 

 

Once again, AMD piledrives Nvidia in terms of price-to-performance. lol $3000 dual titan card. Why do I worry that this is too good to be true?

Titan Z is not meant for gamers, though doubtless some will buy it. A much better comparison is against two 780Ti's.

[Fruitbooter]

There is no point in comparing this and the Titan Z, they are in different leagues due to price not to mention Titan Z is a primarily a compute card that gamers are welcome to use.

Still makes more sense to buy 2 290s and watercool youself, no point paying for labour and average cooling.

[Pvtjace]

That's a lot of money but objectively speaking it's half what Nvidia is asking for the Titan Z and only $100 north of two reference 780 Ti cards which the 295X2 handily outperforms.

$250 odd dollars cheaper then 2x 780 TIs in Australia..

[TERAFLOP]

$250 odd dollars cheaper then 2x 780 TIs in Australia..

O_O that's actually shocking.

[Lukiose]

The fact that it's one card[Albeit dual-gpu], quiet, cool and fucking delivers ~120FPS on 1440p makes all our 600/7000 series look like a joke   
And i just realised how insane GPU prices has gotten for the top-end enthusiast grade cards. A year ago when the Titan came out everyone was like 'Nvidia what the fuck $1000 GPU?' And now we have $1500 and $3000 cards  What the hell is next?