The r9 295X2 is the best card on the market?

[KemoKa]

...yeah, uh, I have a 650W PSU, which is a reasonably substantial power supply, I can run most any single-chip card, with it, the RAM and CPU overclocked to the balls. Yet I could power just ONE of these cards. No motherboard, no CPU, no hard drives, no nothing. JUST the card. That's all.

Yes, it's the fastest card on the market. But it's also a power vacuum.

[Swndlr]

Gr8 purchase if you want a jet engine of your own to marvel at any time even when not under load

[79 Potatoes]

...yeah, uh, I have a 650W PSU, which is a reasonably substantial power supply, I can run most any single-chip card, with it, the RAM and CPU overclocked to the balls. Yet I could power just ONE of these cards. No motherboard, no CPU, no hard drives, no nothing. JUST the card. That's all.

Yes, it's the fastest card on the market. But it's also a power vacuum.

Well, first you'll have to search your PSU in a list, as that GPU sucks so much power that even exceeds ATX standards and can turn some good PSUs into bricks.

AMD also provides a note

[Marcelo Delicia]

Gr8 purchase if you want a jet engine of your own to marvel at any time even when not under load

But titan x makes a lot of noise 

[Swndlr]

But titan x makes a lot of noise 

Not as much as this thing

[daniellearmouth]

Oh boy...

 

In terms of raw power, maybe. It's a card that breaks boundaries in ways no other card does, such as requiring no daisy-chained power inputs, utilising two GPUs, is liquid-cooled out of the box, and is one of the few cards truly worthy of the title of being 'enthusiast-grade'.

 

But the biggest caveat is...well...

It is probably the most inefficient flagship GPU on the market.

 

500W, with constant power delivery on the same 12V rail otherwise you can end up with it burning your computer from within? Being crazy noisy? Being less powerful per GPU than the Titan X? Hell, even the Titan Z is a better card, and that also has a 2 GPU config, with a similar cooler design to the 295X2 (sans liquid radiator), and has 4GB more VRAM (as academic as that sounds).

Granted, the Titan Z is significantly more expensive than the 295X2, but let's be honest here...the 295X2 is simply impossible to recommend. It's the annoying, high maintenance child in a family of well adjusted GPUs, thanks to the noise and power requirements, and there simply being more practical options available, a la the R9 Fury X or the NVIDIA 980 Ti.

[comicsansms]

just watercool it

It is water cooled

 

[FaZe Booce]

best card i've used twice

[Marcelo Delicia]

Not as much as this thing

and also u can mod fans for better and silent

[TheConverter]

...

Here, stock cooling

 

 

You do realise the amount of heat that goes into your room is the same..

*DOUBLE FACEPALM*

[Marcelo Delicia]

It is water cooled

 

i mean better watercooling with 4 fan radiator

[79 Potatoes]

You do realise the amount of heat that goes into your room is the same..

*DOUBLE FACEPALM*

IKR, but I was answering him to his "just watercool it" comment

*don't forget to reroute the facepalms*

[Deletive]

You mean the GTX 990Ti?

It would probably be a titan card with the price to match.

[Marcelo Delicia]

IKR, but I was answering him to his "just watercool it" comment

i meant better watercooling with 4 fan rads

[Swndlr]

and also u can mod fans for better and silent

At what cost

Buying a 295X2 to just add more water cooling components would be wasteful because you would just add it all up to the cost that would get you a much better solution anyway.

And I dont even know if aftermarket cooling the card is possible to begin with.

[LeightonPC]

i meant better watercooling with 4 fan rads

How hard is it for you to understand...

1. It is not going to work better in most scenarios due to it effectivly being two cards and we all should know how well they scale.

2. No matter how much water cooling you do it will still produce the same heat. It is just dissipated differently.

3. That would be WAY louder than the Titan X.

[Lays]

At what cost

Buying a 295X2 to just add more water cooling components would be wasteful because you would just add it all up to the cost that would get you a much better solution anyway.

And I dont even know if aftermarket cooling the card is possible to begin with.

 

 

Of course it's possible, EK and bitspower make blocks for it. (I know EK does, not 100% sure if bitspower does but I'm fairly sure they do)

[othertomperson]

Or you know you could save about £100 on a Fury X or 980 Ti instead.

 

Hell just buy two 290Xs instead. That'll be a lot cheaper and the power going to each card separately seems like a much better idea.

[Swndlr]

Of course it's possible, EK and bitspower make blocks for it. (I know EK does, not 100% sure if bitspower does but I'm fairly sure they do)

But lets be honest, youd be buying the 295X2, for whatever that costs (not too sure of the price, assuming its over $500) and the other water cooling components, which would set it at quite a high price point and at that point Id just say get a better single card.

Theres really no upgrade path for the 295X2, unless you want to add another one, which is ridiculous and youve got to be out of your mind as a PC user to do it IMO.

[Lays]

But lets be honest, youd be buying the 295X2, for whatever that costs (not too sure of the price, assuming its over $500) and the other water cooling components, which would set it at quite a high price point and at that point Id just say get a better single card.

Theres really no upgrade path for the 295X2, unless you want to add another one, which is ridiculous and youve got to be out of your mind as a PC user to do it IMO.

 

 

To be fair, going through all that trouble to watercool the 295x2, you could just buy dual high end 980 ti's and walk all over it for a similar price point.

[Swndlr]

To be fair, going through all that trouble to watercool the 295x2, you could just buy dual high end 980 ti's and walk all over it for a similar price point.

My point exactly.

I cant think of many places for the 295X2. I guess itd be a good folding card or mining card?

[Atmos]

"Best" is fairly opinion or single-use case based. 

 

The Two most powerful, single-card gpus for gaming, are the 295x2 and Titan X, no doubts about that. When both are given a custom loop and unlocked bios they can dominate any other cards on the market in benchmarks and horsepower.

 

The problem is, both cards are "best" at different times.

The 295x2 is best when:

• Powerdraw is not an issue
• Heat output is not an issue
• Crossfire is supported with at least a 50-55% scaling ratio on the second gpu
• Marginally cheaper than the titan X, can be found for about 700$ as opposed to 1000+
• Much faster in Number Crunching

 

 

But, the Titan X is best when:

• Powerdraw cannot be absurd.
• Heat output cannot be absurd
• Crossfire/sli is NOT an option
• Cuda Acceleration

It's difficult to say which card is best, I certainly advise a 295 over a titan X, but I would sooner advise a 980ti over a 295 unless you already had a beef enough psu to cope with the huge TDP. Technically, the 295 is a far more powerful card, but in games that only matters when crossfire is supported.

[KingKeith55]

Does the water boil?

[TheConverter]

"Best" is fairly opinion or single-use case based. 

 

The Two most powerful, single-card gpus for gaming, are the 295x2 and Titan X, no doubts about that. When both are given a custom loop and unlocked bios they can dominate any other cards on the market in benchmarks and horsepower.

 

The problem is, both cards are "best" at different times.

The 295x2 is best when:

• Powerdraw is not an issue
• Heat output is not an issue
• Crossfire is supported with at least a 50-55% scaling ratio on the second gpu
• Marginally cheaper than the titan X, can be found for about 700$ as opposed to 1000+
• Much faster in Number Crunching

 

 

But, the Titan X is best when:

• Powerdraw cannot be absurd.
• Heat output cannot be absurd
• Crossfire/sli is NOT an option
• Cuda Acceleration

It's difficult to say which card is best, I certainly advise a 295 over a titan X, but I would sooner advise a 980ti over a 295 unless you already had a beef enough psu to cope with the huge TDP. Technically, the 295 is a far more powerful card, but in games that only matters when crossfire is supported.

 

This whole thread doesn't make any sense.

The 295X2 is NOT THE BEST CARD. We are talking about performance here not prices.

 

Also I must remind you that the Titan X is not longer THE BEST CARD. Even a lower end 980Ti like my Msi 980Ti beats the crap out of the Titan X.

 

Since the 980Ti came out I wouldn't recommend the 295X2 to anyone, but at the start of this year it was 549.99$ on sale at Newegg, now that's one hell of bang for buck.

[Atmos]

This whole thread doesn't make any sense.

The 295X2 is NOT THE BEST CARD. We are talking about performance here not prices.

 

Also I must remind you that the Titan X is not longer THE BEST CARD. Even a lower end 980Ti like my Msi 980Ti beats the crap out of the Titan X.

 

Since the 980Ti came out I wouldn't recommend the 295X2 to anyone, but at the start of this year it was 549.99$ on sale at Newegg, now that's one hell of bang for buck.

 

And in terms of raw performance, the 295x2 is a far better card. Hence it being at the top of nearly every single game benchmark with even basic crossfire support.