Radeon R9 295X2 8 GB Review: Project Hydra Gets Liquid Cooling

By Igor Wallossek, Chris Angelini
published

“Do you have what it takes?” AMD asks, purportedly referring to the big budget and beefy power supply you need before buying its new Radeon R9 295X2. We benchmark the 500 W, dual-GPU beast against several other high-end configs before declaring a winner.

Power Consumption: General-Purpose Computing

GPGPU Endurance Test

In order to create a consistent load that mimics something you might do in the real world (and doesn't get categorized as a "power virus" by the driver), I fired up one instance of GUIMiner per GPU, creating a 100% load.

The Radeon R9 295X2 draws a little more power here than the gaming test on the previous page, but amazingly doesn't exceed 450 W. PowerTune steps in, as you can see in the chart below, and the dual-GPU card's performance drops compared to the single-processor boards. You could try pushing the Radeon R9 295X2 above 500 W by increasing its power target, but it really wouldn't make any sense to do so.

The Radeon R9 295X2 draws a total of 420 W from the auxiliary power connectors, and only a few watts more from the motherboard's PCI Express slot.

In comparison, the two-generation-old Radeon HD 6990 pulls about 360 W from the auxiliary connectors, but averages a more substantial 62 W from the motherboard's slot, with peaks up to 74 W.

Finally, the Radeon HD 7990 is forced to hit the brakes due to a lower peak clock rate under heavy load.

Igor Wallossek
115 Comments Comment from the forums
  • SVMreborn
    The pricing of this beast really impressed me.
    Reply
  • Marsian Gustrianda
    Many people doubt about Dual GPU Hawaii will be Blow Up. It seems AMD really do well job. Nice Looking Card
    Reply
  • ohim
    This card is like the Veyron of WV , show the world what you can do (R295x2) but you`ll still relay on the sales of your WV Golf for revenue (270x, 280x)
    Reply
  • ferooxidan
    Finally the review of this beast! Now continue reading
    Reply
  • outlw6669
    Impressive performance, temperatures and fairly low noise!
    I would prefer a bit lower price, but this looks like a great card for the gamer that has everything!
    Reply
  • getochkn
    Surprised you didn't do a mining hashrate test on it to see what it can push out.
    Reply
  • gunfighter zeck
    the name Dreadnaught originated from Dread Nothing or, fear nothing.
    Boss ship.
    Reply
  • Maxamus456
    Hope this price stays low and not get bloated from bit con miners like its predecessors.
    Reply
  • blubbey
    So let me get this straight. It runs pretty cool, quiet, performs well and (for the moment) is able to play a good selection of games at 4k admirably and is priced competitively. Plus if you are going to drop a bit more on watercooling your GPUs (which is a possibility if you're spending $1200+) that gives this card even greater value. Nice work AMD.
    Reply
  • marciocattini
    Wheres Tom's Hardware seal of approval? =( clearly this card diserves some love!
    Reply