4K Gaming, R9 295X2 vs Sapphire R9 290x 8GB In crossfire, Tri Crossfire/Quad Crossfire Optimisation

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Primordial Genesis

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I've read an article showing the R9 295X2 beat the Titan Z at 4K gaming....

Now if someone were to build a 4K Setup (I say someone because I never would, this is more for curiosity)

Firstly I'd like to ask would 3 R9 290X's (4gb versions) or 4 be optimised for games? I remembered an article awhile ago showing 3 7970's (bascially an r9 280x) in tri crossfire and the 3rd card RARELY offered any extra.

So my question now is what would be better? R9 295X2 is £1100

R9 290X Sapphire 8GB(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-353-SP) is £600. so 2 would be £1200. now i'm led to beleive when crossfiring/Sli the Vram's never add up. So 2 R9 290X's would still have 8GB VRAM not 16. (Obviously Dual GPU's are done differently)

£100 isn't alot at this sort of spec. So which would perform better for 4K Gaming?

ALso do many new games support 4K?


4K monitors are getting cheaper now (28" Samsung 60Hz 4K for £500, However it has that cheap Display, I think it's called " TN" which basically has small viewing angles, that's why these monitors are so cheap for 4K) So the only massive expense is getting the spec to run 4K.

Cheers,

Primordial Genesis
 
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babernet_1

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No, each GPU has 4GB of ram so together they act like a very fast 4GB GPU.
 
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Primordial Genesis

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No I'm talking about the Sapphire Vapor X R9 290X 8GB released a few weeks ago.

This: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-353-SP
 
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babernet_1

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Sorry, didn't even know one existed. You guys in the UK get new Sapphire stuff a lot sooner then us Yanks!
 
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nikoli707

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not sure where anyone can possibly find a 295x2 beating two 290x's in crossfire. on the top unigine valley list the 295x2's are at the very bottom compared to cfx 290x's. for about $450 you can get a 360 rad, d5 pump, and two ekwb blocks, and about $1050 get two 290x's, clock them to roughly 1.45ghz, and they will absolutely destroy the 295x2 for the same price, slightly less if you shop around and wait for the deals to come on.

never in the history of dual gpu boards have they ever beat their sli/cfx counterpart board when all things are created equal. be smart, get two 290x's if you are dead set on hawaii.

also keep in mind that 4k resolution does not need any advanced hardware antialiasing like msaa… fxaa, or smaa at most, is all one needs at this extreme resolution… so
 
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Primordial Genesis

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Errrm I don't really know about that. I've never seen 2 7970's beat a 7990. Plus the R9 295X2 wouldn't need a SLi/Xfire Mobo.

What would optimization be like for 4 R9 290X's or 2 R9 295X2's? Are games generally optimized for that?

Bare in mind I live in the UK, If I use 2 R9 290X's 4Gb (about £800 for both) you only get 4GB of VRAM, and VRAM has been proven to be very useful at 4K Gaming.

Plus the main comparison is 2x R9 290X 8GB's vs R9 295X2. Which cost around the same.
 
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babernet_1

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If it were me, I'd get the two Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290X 8GB. You cannot go with three boards though, for these boards take up 2.5 slots. I think I saw a board once that could handle them, but don't remember what it was.
 
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Primordial Genesis

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They take up 2.5 slots? SO I'd need a mobo with at least 3 PCIEX8 slots?

What about the R9 295X2 does that use 2.5 slots or 2?
 
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nikoli707

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the 295x2 is still on a single board that can only wick away so much heat. squeezing the vrms and mosfets together will create much more heat than will the same vrms and mosfets distributed across two boards. accounting for no mobo bottlenecks, clock for clock the 295x2 will perform exactly the same as two 290x's in crossfire, its just that simple. but two 290x's have a huge advantage of spreading their heat creating parts across more space, not to mention custom designed pcbs for which some elite models have hugely beefed up vrms. if the cooling designs are supposed to be equal, the two seperate boards are going to have a higher thermal threshold which allows more overclocking.

the 7970 would overclock much farther than the 7990, just as the 680 would overclock farther than the 690. if space is an issue the the dual gpu board are nice option for extreme users. many boards are sli/cfx capable and more than affordable and i really dont see than being an issue for ANY builder who can afford a $1500 dual gpu graphics card.

optimization for more than two cards, nvidia or amd, just flat out sucks. stick with two gpu setups or wait another year or so until nvidia/amd release a card with 30%+/- more performance than their top tier gpus have now. rumor is the top tier maxwell gm204 will only offer about 15% more performance than the full gk110, but also offer up to 35% reduction in power consumption, and hopefully much less heat too for more through the roof overclocks.
 
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sora

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I'm pretty sure it would use two slots.
 
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Primordial Genesis

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About Heat it's proven the R9 295X2 produces less heat than ONE R9 290X... So i don't really know where that's come from. (Hybrid Cooling FTW) http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/68381-amd-radeon-r9-295x2/?page=11

(EDIT: I've just realised that article uses the reference card which i will admit does not count, So I dug this out: http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/63953-sapphire-radeon-r9-290-tri-x/?page=10 bare in mind Sapphire's cooling system on their Tri-X is VERY VERY good compared to Msi, Asus and Gigabyte. So yet the R9 295X2 is still cooler than the Sapphire R9 290X which has a special cooler fitted for Overclocking...)

As for optimization, I know what you mean. R9 295X2 is probably the best bet here. (or 2 R9 290X's in your case)


Now onto the case of the R9 290X 8GB. If you used 2 of these rather than 2 r9 290X 4GB's would you see a performance increase? Sapphire claim that's why they built he 8GB Version of the R9 290X, to be xfried to even tri fired for 4K Gaming.
 
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BerganTead1

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It doesn't matter. Aftermarket coolers still have issues keeping them cool in Crossfire especially. If you want fan-style coolers then you also need a LOT of airflow inside your case since the hot air won't be pushed out.
 
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nikoli707

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nice benchmark above but seriously one sided by comparing a reference 290x to water cooling. obviously 295x2 stock water cooling vs amd reference air cooling is going to have huge differences. 290x users with ek blocks and 240 rads have no problem staying under 60c at 1.2ghz +/- and generally reach 1.4ghz before heading north of 80c. that is a far cry from the 295x2 at almost 70c running a pitiful 1ghz core clock.
 
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Primordial Genesis

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You sound slightly p*ssed off with my argument? Considering the fact you COMPLETELY ignored my clear "EDIT" showing you the R9 295X2 is still cooler than the R9 290X Sapphire Tri-X. Yet you still go on talking about the reference cooler? Are you f*cking kidding me?

If you're going to try and be difficult on purpose (as you clearly are) I'd rather you just not comment at all. you displayed an argument towards me, that's fine I totally understand. I proved that your "theory" was wrong.
 
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Primordial Genesis

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You've misinterpreted what I'm saying, I'm no talking about the coolers on that card. that card is a special edition with 8GB Vram rather than the original 4GB.
 
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babernet_1

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You better edit this post a bit cooler. I was almost banned for something more mild than this. Note, I am not a moderator, just a guy.
 
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kalijaga

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HI guys,

if skill and time permits, go with the 290x 8gb 4way CF and waterblocks, pumps, 2x360mmrads and big reservoirs. I would.
Otherwise buy TWO 295x2 and CF them. I did!
Most likely will get the same performance overall but the first option will get you the top 100 3DMark13 score.

Cheers.
 
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Primordial Genesis

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Yeah but that's a singular R9 290, That also could just be a one off, he';s unlucky kind of thing.

My post was based around Hexus' Review of the R9 295X2: http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/68381-amd-radeon-r9-295x2/?page=5

If you scroll through the games they tested, the R9 295X2 gets over 60FPS on a few games, and doesn't seem like they had a problem.
 
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PC-Noobist

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I see alot of people suggesting hybrid crossfiring an R9 295X2 and an R9 290X, if you can get the R9 295X2 and the Sapphire R9 290X Vapor-X 8GB, as 3 cards are used more often than 4 but also in 4k gaming all the gpus seem to make a difference so up to you
 
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