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Review: AMD Radeon R9 295X2

by Tarinder Sandhu on 8 April 2014, 13:00

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaccy5

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Testing methodology and notes

GPU Comparisons

Graphics Card Peak Core Clock
(MHz)
Stream
Processors
Memory Clock
(MHz)
Memory Bus
(bits)
Graphics Driver
AMD Radeon R9 295X2 8GB 1,015 5,632 5,000 512 x2 Catalyst 14.4 beta
AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB 1,000 2,816 5,000 512 Catalyst 14.4 beta
AMD Radeon HD 7990 6GB 1,000 4,096 6,000 256 x2 Catalyst 14.4 beta
Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan 6GB 876 2,688 6,008 384 GeForce 337.50
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB 928 2,880 7,012 384 GeForce 337.50
Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 4GB 915 3,072 6,008 256 x2 GeForce 337.50

HEXUS Graphics Test Bench

Processor Intel Core i7-4770K (3.50GHz, 8MB cache, quad-core)
CPU Cooler Intel reference E97378-001
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro (2x8GB) DDR3 @ 1,866MHz
Power Supply Corsair AX860i
Storage Device Crucial M500 240GB SSD
Chassis Corsair Graphite Series 600T
Monitor Dell UltraSharp UP2414Q 4K (3,840x2,160)
Operating system Windows 8.1 64-bit

HEXUS Ultra-High-End Benchmark Suite

GPU Benchmarks Mode and Resolutions Quality Settings
3DMark DX11 at 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,440 Fire Strike and Fire Strike Extreme
Battlefield 4 DX11 at 3,840x2,160 Ultra + DOF
Crysis 3 DX11 at 3,840x2,160 4xMSAA, High Preset
Far Cry 3 DX11 at 3,840x2,160 2xMSAA, Ultra Preset
GRID 2 DX11 at 3,840x2,160 4xMSAA, Ultra Preset
Just Cause 2 DX10 at 3,840x2,160 8xMSAA, High Preset
Total War: Rome II DX11 at 3,840x2,160 Ultra Preset
General Benchmarks Description
Power Consumption To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record mains power draw both when idle and while playing Far Cry 3
Temperature To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record GPU core temperature both when idle and while playing Far Cry 3
Noise A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and while playing Far Cry 3

Notes

We have tested six very high-end graphics cards from the grounds up. The Nvidia trio have all been run with the latest 337.50 drivers while AMD's cards are run using the Catalyst 14.4 beta driver.

There's little point in ascertaining whether these cards can run games at 1080p or even 1440p - we've proved this many times before. The real test is to see if AMD's jewel in the crown, and others, can run a 4K screen with the same image-quality settings that we use at the lower resolutions.

Dual-GPU cards have historically benchmarked well in pure framerate but have been left wanting in terms of smoothness, where slow frames blight the overall games playing experience. This is the primary reason why we've previously recommended against them. For this review we're also looking to see how each GPU spits out its frames, with a view of understanding how smooth the rendering is. You'll see exactly what we mean when looking at the first game.