The R295x has come way down in price stateside it is now sub 1000$ USD, I was considering upgrading to 2 R9 290x's run in crossfire. As it stands that costs more then a single R9 295x therefore, I have three questions:
First, is a R295x faster/better then 2 decently cooled 290x's in crossfire?
Second, it seemed to me that the 295x all have the same cooler/PCB and seem to be specked by AMD rather then having custom PCBs and power delivery systems. As such, my question is does it matter which R295x you buy?
Lastly, will a highly overclocked FX 8350 (4.8Ghz) be sufficient for this crossfire or dual GPU setup?
The R9 295X2 is two 290Xs on one card with a closed loop water cooler attached.
They shouldn't be any faster than two 290Xs. However, because of the superior cooling solution, it shouldn't go over 70 degrees, you'll be able to hit higher boost clocks and OC higher on the 295X2.
I'm pretty sure they are all the same.
The 8350 will have no problem.
Just be sure you have a PSU that can handle the insane power draw
To add to what DK said, the advantage of two 290s is that, if they are reference cards, you can buy your own card cooling solutions far superior to that what is available on the 295x. it WILL cost you. But I am not totally convinced of the durability of the cooler on the 295x with the 295x, you have one cooling solution for two cards, in xfire w watercooling, you can have two separately cooled cards, Again, you will pay for it. but if you can do it, it is amazing to have that kind of a cooling option. I am not knocking the 295x, Just pointing out the possible benefits of two reference cards.
I am not sure how good the cooler is on the 295X2 but it looks significantly better than what we have seen in the past. The problem with these dual gpu cards is that they normally have trouble keeping cool and overclocking well, however you also have that problem with 2 290s or 290xs for instance, unless one is a blower, because the top card gets starved of oxygen.
Overall you would probably be better off with a single 295x2, it only uses one pcie slot, its not going to be starved of oxygen and its got the best looking cooling soloution i have seen on a dual gpu card.
I agree, I am worried about the cooler on the R9 295x. I mean, I would never knock a good custom cooler and my case (Corsair C70) has a good air path for dual gpu setups so 2 290x's is not a problem, but, for the 295x the only issue I am aware of is that the VRMs can get a bit hot and the card throttles down at 75c as opposed to the 90c on the 290/290x. even as such I have read the 295x's cooler is quite good and even has some overclocking head room.
On the custom cards, if you were to add aftermarket cooling they would become insanely expensive. As it stands a good R290x costs somewhere around the 550$ mark, an upgrade to like a Nzxt G10 would run like 100$ a card maybe more. Not to cry about money, as I am likely going to buy this stuff; but, that's a big add; at current pricing its 1300$ for the 290x's with added G10s vs 1030$ for the R295x and some better SP fans. Even without changing the cooling on the 290x's at the end of the day it's $100+ more then the R295x which seems to be the same in performance. As I keep reading about this I'm starting to lean heavily towards the R295x.
Actually there is one. The powerColor Devil 13 295x2. It seems o have a custom PCB and is fully air cooled, it is a triple slot card though and get mighty hot under load. The cores stay around 75/80 degrees but the power delivery can get to 95+.
I say custom PCB because the reference 295s have 4 Mini Display Ports and one Dual Link DVI where the Devil 13 has a regular 290 setup of 1 Display port, 1 HDMI, 2 DVI. It aslo requires 4x 8pin PCI Power cables as opposed to the reference 2x 8pin.
It also sports custom stacked fan fins that speed up the inner air for more focused cooling, it weights a mammoth 3KG or so and comes with a "power jack" to hold up the end of the card.
One last thing, power draw for the card alone... 675watts.
Also being air cooled it dumps that heat back into your case.
Zibob made a good point with you being able to fullblock watercool it if it is an issue, not sure how much that would cost to do though, probably quiet a bit, EKWB pricing is crazy but that is what patents do. But it does look awesome, and honoestly its probably not even a problem. Infact looking at I don't think it will be an issue, the card is much quieter than its competition and has lower temps, there was also no signs of throttelling so yeah....
If they had these for that price over here I would be tempted but oh well..
