Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 16 of 39

Thread: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

  1. #1
    HEXUS.admin
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Posts
    31,709
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    2,073 times in 719 posts

    Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    Primed for gaming at 4K.
    Read more.

  2. #2
    IQ: 1.42
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    old trafford
    Posts
    1,340
    Thanks
    132
    Thanked
    94 times in 80 posts
    • Tunnah's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus somethingorother
      • CPU:
      • 3700X
      • Memory:
      • 16GB 3600
      • Storage:
      • Various SSDs, 90TB RAID6 HDDs
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 1080Ti
      • PSU:
      • Silverstone 650w
      • Case:
      • Lian-Li PC70B
      • Operating System:
      • Win10
      • Internet:
      • 40mbit Sky Fibre

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    Excellent article, and especially great to see the breakdown of per-frame performance as that is crucial knowledge for this kind of setup.

    I was wondering though why you didn't do dual card runs to show a comparison to a real counter-part ? The 690 and 7990 are dual cards sure, but are not really the competition to this, they are old hat, was expecting 780Ti SLI and R90X X-fire to see how this card compares to it's competition

    Although I wonder how the 780Ti will fare with only 3GB frame buffer, with even basic FSAA on it would use a huge chunk of that at 4K

  3. #3
    King of the Juice Platinum's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Chesterfield
    Posts
    3,769
    Thanks
    713
    Thanked
    89 times in 74 posts
    • Platinum's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus X99 Deluxue
      • CPU:
      • Core i7 5930k @ 4GHz
      • Memory:
      • 32gb Crucial 2400MHz
      • Storage:
      • 256gb Samsung SP941, 1tb MX500 Crucial SSD, 240gb Intel 730 SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Sapphire R9 Fury OC
      • PSU:
      • 750 Watt Corsair HX
      • Case:
      • Corsiar 750D
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2408WFP
      • Internet:
      • 18Mb

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    500w has to be wrong, 2x 8 pin power connectors providing 150w each + the 75 watt from the motherboard is only 375w?
    Salazaar : <Touching wood as I write this...>


  4. #4
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,023
    Thanks
    1,870
    Thanked
    3,381 times in 2,718 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    Don't forget the XDMA accelerators that help this dual card stay smooth - it's not just about the framebuffer.

    Quote Originally Posted by Platinum View Post
    500w has to be wrong, 2x 8 pin power connectors providing 150w each + the 75 watt from the motherboard is only 375w?
    As per the review, AMD are ignoring PCI-E spec.

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    ATLANTIS
    Posts
    1,207
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    28 times in 26 posts

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    this is a great card considering the performance, if I was into business of heavy graphics I would go with two of these!

  6. #6
    The Ace
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    London
    Posts
    373
    Thanks
    25
    Thanked
    4 times in 4 posts

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    AMD scored high in every test I mean EVERY test but the price is something I won't look at it for well 5-6 years so good guy AMD nice job but not going to buy.

  7. #7
    Le Adder Noir CK_1985's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    587
    Thanks
    35
    Thanked
    29 times in 24 posts
    • CK_1985's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte GA-H87N-WiFi mini-ITX
      • CPU:
      • i5-4670K
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz
      • Storage:
      • 500GB Samsung 850EVO
      • Graphics card(s):
      • GeForce GTX660ti
      • PSU:
      • Silverstone Strider 450W SFX
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Sugo SG-05
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell U2414H
      • Internet:
      • BT Infinity Fibre

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    Great review Hexus, love the detail around smoothness and not just speed.

    Congrats to AMD on building a dual-GPU card that has none of the usual problems of a dual-GPU card (micro-stuttering, heat, noise) - genuinely impressive and innovative piece of engineering. Never in a million years going to buy one though!!
    "I want to be young and wild, then I want to be middle aged and rich, then I want to be old and annoy people by pretending that I'm deaf..."

    my Hexus.Trust

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Glasgow
    Posts
    330
    Thanks
    12
    Thanked
    39 times in 30 posts
    • Goobley's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus H81I-Plus
      • CPU:
      • i3 4130
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP Blue
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Caviar Blue
      • Graphics card(s):
      • MSI R9 270 Gaming
      • PSU:
      • EVGA 500B
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master Elite 120
      • Operating System:
      • Linux Arch/Mint/Windows 7 Ult. 64bit/OS X
      • Monitor(s):
      • 23" iiyama IPS
      • Internet:
      • Meh

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    As per the review, AMD are ignoring PCI-E spec.
    TBH, I don't blame them, I've never seen any product other than computer equipment where such large cables are required for the amount of power (I know it's LV, high current, but even so...). Considering I'm well within specs to wire my multiple kW oven with 6mm^2 cable and PSUs typically use 18 AWG (IIRC that's about 0.85mm^2). 2*8-pin is 10 ground wires and 6 12V wires. Giving 5.1mm^2 of current sourcing wire and 8.5mm^2 of current sinking wire.

    If you then add the fact that using multiple wires increases the surface area allowing better heat dissipation and thus increased current carrying capacity, it seems to me like AMD were fairly logical about it.

    Thinking about it, the number of cables required seems even stranger when you think about the OCB. There's no way that the power traces have the same area as the wire carrying the power to the card. The PCI-E spec seems quite strange on power requirements to me - but I'd imagine it's so the cheapest PSUs with dodgy cable can still provide what they're supposed to.

  9. #9
    jim
    jim is offline
    HEXUS.clueless jim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    11,457
    Thanks
    613
    Thanked
    1,645 times in 1,307 posts
    • jim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
      • CPU:
      • i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Sandisk SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX650
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT03
      • Operating System:
      • 8.1 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2716DG
      • Internet:
      • 10 Mbps ADSL

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    I wonder what the implications are for budget PSUs though - i.e. the ones where they're only barely meeting the spec.

    I appreciate that no-one will be buying a card this expensive and pairing it with a £40 1kw PSU, but you have to assume that more and more cards will start to use more than 375W as time goes on.

  10. #10
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,023
    Thanks
    1,870
    Thanked
    3,381 times in 2,718 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    Quote Originally Posted by jim View Post
    I appreciate that no-one will be buying a card this expensive and pairing it with a £40 1kw PSU, but you have to assume that more and more cards will start to use more than 375W as time goes on.
    That's fine where they give the actual power requirements - we can spec accordingly and rightly hold up bad supplies that don't make it. It's where they spec 3x the requirements 'just in case' that make it confusing for all. Can you imaging the AMD/nVidia recommended system PSU if they followed their usual pattern of recommending something like a 600W supply for a small efficient card?

  11. #11
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    157
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    Just think, guys - give it 2 years, and there'll be a single-chip card running at this spec for £500. It's how it always is with these crazy "halo" GPUs; this is the tech demo for the future. And, looking at the results, I can't wait for it to be now.

  12. #12
    True Blue! silent's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Heybridge, Nr.Maldon, Essex
    Posts
    1,380
    Thanks
    22
    Thanked
    18 times in 16 posts

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    when you consider the cost of the titan, which isn't a patch on this, for a very high end card, isn't that expensive(yes, i know it is out of most peoples pockets, mine especially)in comparison. seems the titan isn't the best card for gaming either.

  13. #13
    jim
    jim is offline
    HEXUS.clueless jim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Location: Location:
    Posts
    11,457
    Thanks
    613
    Thanked
    1,645 times in 1,307 posts
    • jim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
      • CPU:
      • i5 2500K @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Sandisk SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair AX650
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT03
      • Operating System:
      • 8.1 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2716DG
      • Internet:
      • 10 Mbps ADSL

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    That's fine where they give the actual power requirements - we can spec accordingly and rightly hold up bad supplies that don't make it. It's where they spec 3x the requirements 'just in case' that make it confusing for all. Can you imaging the AMD/nVidia recommended system PSU if they followed their usual pattern of recommending something like a 600W supply for a small efficient card?
    Well, of course, but that's nothing new! My point is that over-speccing can mitigate against low-quality components that can't actually achieve the necessary sustained power requirements, but will it be sufficient to mitigate against cables that can't take the required current?

    I'm sceptical on that latter point. Are low-spec PSU manufacturers, even at the 1kw bracket, going to put in wires of sufficient gauge to carry double the standard current?

  14. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Kingdom O Fife
    Posts
    288
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    15 times in 13 posts
    • zaph0d's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI X570-A Pro
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
      • Memory:
      • 48GB - 2X 32GB and 2X 16GB at 3200
      • Storage:
      • 480GB NVME (OS) 2TB 8 Drive sas Raid0 (Games)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Geforce 1070
      • PSU:
      • 1000W Coolermaster
      • Case:
      • Lian Li PC-343B (Original Model)
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • 2X 55" Samsung 4k tv's
      • Internet:
      • Virgin 500Mb

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    I think it might be time for AMD and nVidia to maybe think about reducing the wattage of their cards.
    The power and cooling requirements are getting kinda ridiculous really.
    Even sticking to PCIE spec, 375W for a single component? Even the top line of enthusiast grade Cpu's don't use more'n about 125W and the gamer grade's are generally under 80W.

  15. #15
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    West Sussex
    Posts
    1,721
    Thanks
    197
    Thanked
    243 times in 223 posts
    • kompukare's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P8Z77-V LX
      • CPU:
      • Intel i5-3570K
      • Memory:
      • 4 x 8GB DDR3
      • Storage:
      • Samsung 850 EVo 500GB | Corsair MP510 960GB | 2 x WD 4TB spinners
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Sappihre R7 260X 1GB (sic)
      • PSU:
      • Antec 650 Gold TruePower (Seasonic)
      • Case:
      • Aerocool DS 200 (silenced, 53.6 litres)l)
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10-64
      • Monitor(s):
      • 2 x ViewSonic 27" 1440p

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    They should have fitted this with 3 x 8-pin connectors. Strangely enough, it seems the card only pulls 26W from the PCIE slot according to computerbase (http://www.computerbase.de/2014-04/a...chmark-test/8/, first time I've seen measuring actual card consumption rather than total system draw AFAIK).

    According to W1zzard (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...295_X2/28.html), the 3D clocks are running at 1.15V so it doesn't look like AMD did any binning. Can't understand why AMD do so little binning whereas Nvidia seem to bin like crazy. Of course often than is to our advantage (no way Nvidia would ship a R9-290 which could be unlocked to RR9-290X for instance), but for halo products like this with a very limited run, I don't see why they couldn't have binned the chips and saved 30-50W or whatever.

  16. #16
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,023
    Thanks
    1,870
    Thanked
    3,381 times in 2,718 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish

    Re: Reviews - AMD Radeon R9 295X2

    Quote Originally Posted by zaph0d View Post
    I think it might be time for AMD and nVidia to maybe think about reducing the wattage of their cards.
    The power and cooling requirements are getting kinda ridiculous really.
    Even sticking to PCIE spec, 375W for a single component? Even the top line of enthusiast grade Cpu's don't use more'n about 125W and the gamer grade's are generally under 80W.
    They have already reduced it. Go look at a 270X or 750ti for amazingly efficient gaming.

    Likewise go look at a server with multiple CPUs and see the power they chew through.

    Not everyone has the same requirements, and there's a range to suit

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •