295x2 or 980ti

[lani100]

Nvidia recently tanked their drivers HARD. SO hard that people are unable to use the drivers. They did this for 2-3 drivers in a row.

 

Get off the high horse and realize that Nvidia's driver department is just another driver department. They can screw up too, and truth be told. Ill rather take "bad" AMD drivers, then drivers from Nvidia that simply causes malfunctions.

I'm the only one that doesn't seem to have problems and i'm not getting of the high horse why would I? I'm not fanboying or bashing AMD but look at Nvidia how fast they have drivers for new titles almost instant, sure Nvidia screwed up sometimes. It's still better to get a single card than a X-fire card.

[tnlich]

How so?

 

Not gonna pretend Nvidia's drivers are good (I've had on and off issues since 2013 and lately a fair amount of driver crashing, so does my friend with 980s), but in my experience with my friend's build who uses an R9 270 AMD's drivers aren't good either. In what way can you gauge that one company has better drivers? Nvidia's have better performance in current games due to lower CPU overhead and better multi-threading, but what makes AMD's better?

270 by itself isnt too good anyhow. Barely decent Crossfire

[tnlich]

Shame the 295x2 doesn't give 8gb vram. Then again, apparently a r9 390 crossfire seems to be a better setup and for cheaper. Would that give better results (and with 8gb vram) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-Nitro-Graphics-PCI-E-GDDR5/dp/B00YXSL4Z0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1435734371&sr=8-3&keywords=r9+390

We have yet to see the 395. If they do 1 and I hope they do.

[Hunter7263]

I'm the only one that doesn't seem to have problems and i'm not getting of the high horse why would I? I'm not fanboying or bashing AMD but look at Nvidia how fast they have drivers for new titles almost instant, sure Nvidia screwed up sometimes. It's still better to get a single card than a X-fire card.

Well the problem is this. The 980ti isnt as powerful as a 295x which isnt as powerful as 390's (nonX) crossfired. So the question is this. Is it okay sometimes to dip below the 980ti because Xfire is badly optimized for a specific game as long as its beating the 980 ti by a wide margin in others? Also while 2 390's cost the same as a reference 980ti should you spend the extra money for a custom pcb (that he may not have) in order to close that gap?

[Prysin]

I'm the only one that doesn't seem to have problems and i'm not getting of the high horse why would I? I'm not fanboying or bashing AMD but look at Nvidia how fast they have drivers for new titles almost instant, sure Nvidia screwed up sometimes. It's still better to get a single card than a X-fire card.

the best solution is the one that give you the best FPS at the lowest price. THAT IS ALWAYS THE BEST SOLUTION.

 

Any other feature, or imaginary "quality" aspect of software made by humans is secondary.

 

Every benchmark you can get will show that the 295x2 HAMMERS every Nvidia card released. Not even the Titan Z (dual Titan card) has a chance against it. What does that tell you? It is THE SINGLE BEST SINGLE PCB SOLUTION SO FAR. There is no single card solution that is better, FPS wise.

 

Feature wise it can be beaten. Yes it does not have gameworks stuff, no it doesnt have CUDA (which to 99% of the people here have little practical need for in their daily life other then being a neat feature once every blue moon).

 

Does it support variable sync rates through Freesync, yes

Has Freesync reached a level of quality, both in monitors and functions that make it worth taking over Gsync, yes they are pretty equal. Gsync has better range, but costs way more.

 

Does it support VSR (AMDs DSR)? YES, albeit VSR need some work (it doesnt work outside of 16:9 and 16:10 ratios for hte time being)

 

Does it support Eyefinity? YES, is Eyefinity better then Nvidia Surround? Yes way better (both at noob and pro levels)

 

Does it support Zero-core? YES, so in the event that it can not use one of the cores it shuts it down, thus its power draw becomes WAY less (still high, but way less)

 

What does Zerocore do? It completely shuts down the GPU to the bare minimum. "Long time draw" as Nvidia and AMD define their standby power draw by is down to 3W with zerocore (when screen saver activates it draws 3W in standby... Nvidia draws 20-35w on their most efficient GPU at standby)

 

So all in all. Does the 295x2 have features worth mentioning? yes

Does these features ALSO make it a more appealing purchase? well yes

Does the 980 Ti offer anything other then lower power consumption AT FULL THROTTLE (remember, when you are not loading the GPU enough it shuts off half the card to save power) not much.

 

Gameworks, even if it DOES cripple AMD, to some extent, and believe me, as an AMD user i can tell you straight away that it isnt anywhere near how bad people want it to be.And that is the most important aspect. Several users on these forums simply do not WANT AMD to have anything to offer. They claim they want them to beat Nvidia or pressure Nvidia so Nvidia gives them better stuff. But the second AMD does that the same people instantly start bashing their products for reasons that are usually trivial or unoticable to the end user in a day to day scenario.

 

Take AMD vs Intel power draw... There is a difference. Where i live that surmounts to around 100-150 NOK (14-20 USD) with 3 hours use EVERY day for a whole year.... EVERY DAY. That is the cost difference between 88W and 125W in realistical power draw. Now a graphics card is pulling a lot more then that. But Nvidias 980Ti is 250W i believe, the Fury is rated at 250w and 390/390X is rated at 275-290W... and the 295x2 is 550W. However, the 295x2 is also WAY faster then a single 290X (and each GPU is clocked higher).

 

So if half the 295 is running, then its essentially 275w power draw vs 250w (i know, 980Ti uses more in real life and so does the 295 and 290x and 390 etc).

 

25w, that is 20ish USD a year for the AMD card....

 

For the 295x2, this is a pointless argument because the power draw at full load is so insane, but if you use your PC like me, spending a lot of time looking at videos and puttin it in standby while gone. Then AMDs 295x2, while its "on" state draws a lot compared to a 980Ti, its off state slowly recuperates this draw.

 

I do not have time to do these calculations, nor the patience. But if you do like me, put your PC in standby/turn off the screen and let the PC just go into hibernation/waiting/standby whatever. Then AMDs Zerocore technology really smacks Nvidia in the face. Nvidia, to this date, simply has NOTHING to offer in return. Which is odd.

[FellTheSky]

single card is better 99% of the time. I dont think the extra performance is worth the rest of crossfire/sli problems

[IateMApoo]

Where CrossFire works well 295X2 gona be better, but dayum that power consumption will be 2 times higher than single 980 Ti.

[JohnnyPappis]

Lately nvidia shit the bed on drivers so badly that AMD has beaten them in that regard.

 

You said it, lately the green team has been having a driver cluster fuck.

[Sam Z Man]

single card is better 99% of the time. I dont think the extra performance is worth the rest of crossfire/sli problems

One little thing, there are no problems with crossfire.

[Badger906]

games that are well crossfire optimised the 295x2 would be the best option, but.. its often not the case and you'll end up getting single card performance.

GTA V is a game that's apparently not great for a 295.

also launch games rarely support crossfire or sli. dying light took about 2 weeks before you'd get anything other than single card performance.

based on the performance of my 980ti I'd recommend one hands down

[FellTheSky]

One little thing, there are no problems with crossfire.

 

higher heat output, higher power consumption, slower drivers updates, and erratic power usage in non triple A tittles. Problems are also present in SLI

[Sam Z Man]

higher heat output, higher power consumption, slower drivers updates, and erratic power usage in non triple A tittles. Problems are also present in SLI

Power consumption does not effect performance, and SLI has problems just a bad and has worse performance scaling then Crossfire.

[Hunter7263]

single card is better 99% of the time. I dont think the extra performance is worth the rest of crossfire/sli problems

So you would take a 970 over a crossfired 390x's?

[FellTheSky]

Power consumption does not effect performance, and SLI has problems just a bad and has worse performance scaling then Crossfire.

 

Im sorry do you actually read before responding to someone? Ive said that BOTH sli and crossfire have problems. I should add, also AMD FANBOYS have problems being so fucking defensive, as if they pay to defend them or something.

So you would take a 970 over a crossfired 390x's?

The topic is on similar priced solutions. Between 980ti and r9 295x there is only 30-40$ difference. How much difference is between 970 and x2 390x?

[Nena Trinity]

Get the 295x2 but its better to get two 290s 8GB or 290Xs 8GB!

[stconquest]

If you are 1920x1080 @60Hz, just grab a GTX 970 and call it a day.  =)

 

Save your money.

[Hunter7263]

Im sorry do you actually read before responding to someone? Ive said that BOTH sli and crossfire have problems. I should add, also AMD FANBOYS have problems being so fucking defensive, as if they pay to defend them or something.

The topic is on similar priced solutions. Between 980ti and r9 295x there is only 30-40$ difference. How much difference is between 970 and x2 390x?

Ya but you said 99% of the time which covers nearly all possibilities. My point still stands though if they were the same price would you still pick the 970? Also not an AMD fanboy. I'm just a fan of performance at a good price. What people don't realize is that AMD is currently decimating Nvidia at price per performance which the exception of the Fury X. Personally I still pick Nvidia because my computer is generally in a room with limited space and every bit of power savings helps prevent more heat in my space.

 

Also the price to performance ratio is better on the AMD Xfired 390's by a noticeable margin. Yes SLI and Crossfire has some issues and they get exaggerated with more cards and that tends to lead to a stigma against them altogether.

[Hunter7263]

Get the 295x2 but its better to get two 290s 8GB or 290Xs 8GB!

Or 2 390s (non X) Which would be cheaper and have better performance and have 8gb usable memory (16gb total). Just saying

 

@stconquest that's a pretty boss comment right there.

[Nena Trinity]

Or 2 390s (non X) Which would be cheaper and have better performance and have 8gb usable memory (16gb total). Just saying

 

@stconquest that's a pretty boss comment right there.

It does not stack until DX12 but those will most likely cost more and use more power or same?

[Hunter7263]

It does not stack until DX12 but those will most likely cost more and use more power or same?

That's exactly why I said 8gb usable because the total 16gb has to include 2 copies of all the data.....

 

And no 390s (non X) are only 310-330 each and have better power efficiency than the 290xs did. Which the 295 is just 2 290xs

 

And it doesn't just stack with dx 12. It can be programmed in a way to utilizes both memory banks IF a company is willing to spend the extra money to develop it.

[Nena Trinity]

That's exactly why I said 8gb usable because the total 16gb has to include 2 copies of all the data.....

 

And no 390s (non X) are only 310-330 each and have better power efficiency than the 290xs did. Which the 295 is just 2 290xs

 

And it doesn't just stack with dx 12. It can be programmed in a way to utilizes both memory banks IF a company is willing to spend the extra money to develop it.

Sounds like 390X is a bad pick due to more power consumption...

[Hunter7263]

Sounds like 390X is a bad pick due to more power consumption...

I don't know about that. The 390x has a noticeable better performance than the 390. It is probably on par with power use per performance but it uses more power and has more performance.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

The 295X2 is better then the 980ti, but only has 4gb of effective vram.

Another great option is.

Dual 290X's if they are cheaper because they are identical to a 295X2.

Dual 290X 8gb, or dual 390/390X, if you want that extra vram for something like triple 1440p.

No No No the 295x2 runs faster and cooler due to the water cooling

 

Forgot to mention heat and noise, although its probably a given with that TDP.

It's actually not THAT bad, noise is minimal but it does have a 600w TDP

 

So I'm going with the 980 ti for G-Sync and cuz my room gets hot as it is, but the 295x2 is faster, and has built in water cooling so if you have a spot for the rad and the PSU to handle it I say go for it. I've wanted to jam one in a Air 240 and run the rad to the little rad mount in the other side of the chamber, but idk if you could still fit 2 fans in the front.

[Nena Trinity]

I don't know about that. The 390x has a noticeable better performance than the 390. It is probably on par with power use per performance but it uses more power and has more performance.

Its as good as 980 actually a bit better but still so hot!

[Hunter7263]

No No No the 295x2 runs faster and cooler due to the water cooling

 

It's actually not THAT bad, noise is minimal but it does have a 600w TDP

 

So I'm going with the 980 ti for G-Sync and cuz my room gets hot as it is, but the 295x2 is faster, and has built in water cooling so if you have a spot for the rad and the PSU to handle it I say go for it. I've wanted to jam one in a Air 240 and run the rad to the little rad mount in the other side of the chamber, but idk if you could still fit 2 fans in the front.

As long as it is in its thermal limits running cooler doesn't mean that much. The 295x2 will still heat the room more despite the card being cooler as the water pump more efficiently transfers heat. The 390's do have a better power efficiency than the 295x2 which translates to less heat expelled from the case. The 295x2 aren't overclocked enough to beat the 390's in crossfire either and has less usable memory to boot.