Why should I not get an R9 295x2?

[tential]

I'm reading through the latest 980 Ti review and this thing is at the top of every chart. Yet the minimums don't look that great. I wish I could see a graph of FPS so I could get a better idea.
So tell me, as a person who rarely games and follows hardware, but finds time for a couple of big titles a year, why would I not get the R9 295x2? It's the CHEAPEST out of all the high end cards, it's the fastest out of all of them for the biggest games in the long run (I don't need to play any game at day 1 ever), why would I not buy this?

I don't play any game that wouldn't have crossfire support, I couldn't think of a single title that has come out right now that is a must play to me that doesn't have CF support.

Are there other problems with crossfire that I'm not accounting for? Will stuttering and other issues just kill me? Will flickering issues simply never ever get fixed and just aren't mentioned in reviews? etc.

Explain to me why I shouldn't get this card as it seems to be the best or high res gaming and that seems perfect for me to use for downsampling using VSR for my 1080p projector until the real game changers come along and it seems like the CHEAPEST option to do so.
Edit: Overclocking maybe? Powersupply?

 

[happy medium]

first of all what kind of power supply do you have.?

whats your system specs and what games are you talking about
.

 

[crashtech]

Well minimums seem to be the Achilles heel of any kind of multi-GPU setup, unless you have a killer hexacore CPU or better.

P.S. I take it as a given that the 295X2 is considered a multi-GPU setup, even though it lives on one PCB.

 

[tential]

first of all what kind of power supply do you have.?

whats your system specs and what games are you talking about
.

4770k 8GB RAM 1600, Coolermaster 720W PSU (M.2?)

Games like just anything big with CF support. Unity has it now, SoM has it, Dragon Age Inquisition, I don't game enough to get past the big titles with CF support. I think the PSU would be cutting it close but looking at anandtech's review they use a far better CPU then may 4770k so I save some power there and I would be happy with stock performance and would use an FPS limiter anyway since I'd be playing on a 1080p projector and I don't have a 4K setup (not until 4K projectors come out!).

 

[gamervivek]

Too much power usage, stutters that aren't present with single card setups and nvidia sponsored games where crossfire will not work or will work after many months. See techreport review of 980 Ti where 295x2 is now smooth as butter in far cry 4, but was shoddy when Titan X was released.

 

[crashtech]

Too much power usage, stutters that aren't present with single card setups and nvidia sponsored games where crossfire will not work or will work after many months. See techreport review of 980 Ti where 295x2 is now smooth as butter in far cry 4, but was shoddy when Titan X was released.

Here, let me help you:

I don't play any game that wouldn't have crossfire support, I couldn't think of a single title that has come out right now that is a must play to me that doesn't have CF support.

 

[happy medium]

Too much power usage, stutters that aren't present with single card setups and nvidia sponsored games where crossfire will not work or will work after many months

and

Actually Russian sensation said it best.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37442430&postcount=146

With your current power supply you could overclock your cpu and gtx980ti and get very similar performance than a 295 and better minimums
I would spend the extra money and buy a gtx980ti.

 

[tential]

Here, let me help you:

I'm not a big gamer. Like I just LOVE pc hardware a lo but at this point, I rarely have enough time to play a lot of games. So if a game is a big triple A title with working CF that's visually stunning and fun to play, then why not play it? That's how I see the setup as. I've never looked at a game as a "Must play!!!!!" and I don't buy games on release anymore. Last I did that was Halo, and the game was $23, a week or two after release with deals through American Express. Nope. I'll just get games when they work with what I have as I rarely play these titles that people get hyped for that are made by devs that wouldn't ensure that AMD gpus work on their title at some point during their title's lifespan.

But I also could be wrong. Paying an extra $100 and OCing the GTX 980ti may be the better choice. Neither GPU can do 4K, and I don't have a 4K monitor anyway and am downsampling on a projector. I just want to get some input here on whether this is a good solution although I guess we still have to see what AMD is doing as they literally have nothing concrete out there....

 

[crashtech]

Well if it won't kill you to wait a bit, the release of AMD's new GPU line is imminent.

 

[Silverforce11]

I wouldn't get R295X2 when the 980Ti custom models will be available, at around $699 I expect them to be great overclockers and you don't need to worry about multi-GPU issues.

Also wait and see what AMD has with its new lineup.

 

[SPBHM]

980TI uses what? 200W less? have more VRAM, more consistent performance and frame delivery (295X2 can perform like a 290X if CF is not working), also the 980TI seems to overclock more, the price is to close to justify the 295X2 IMO.

 

[RussianSensation]

I don't play any game that wouldn't have crossfire support, I couldn't think of a single title that has come out right now that is a must play to me that doesn't have CF support.?

To add to happy_medium's post to my response to you (thanks happy!):

(1) Some games/game engines may never support multi-GPUs.

Are you suggesting to spend $550 on an R9 295X2 that you presumably will keep for 2-3 years and walking into a situation where you have to skip all UE4-based games?

http://gamegpu.ru/images/remote/htt...U-Action-Unreal_Tournament_-cach-UE4_2560.jpg

Also, as I mentioned already, why would you want to take such a BIG risk of relying on CF for 75% of your performance? Just look at The Witcher 3 without a proper driver profile:

980Ti is 91% faster than 780Ti
980Ti is 56% faster than R9 290X/295X2

What if CF/SLI never works in a game like Company of Heroes 2? You'll never buy the game?

(2) Frames per second =! frame times

Some games/game engines hide a dirty secret - the frame per second are really nice on paper but in the real world, the game is stuttering/choppy and 55-60 fps feels more like 25-30 fps unplayable mess!

I'll provide some examples.

vs.

Remember how I just showed TW3 with broken CF? Well even with the latest driver with working CF, the frame times are inferior to 980Ti even though the performance looks 'faster' on paper:

vs.

vs.

As you can tell, R9 295X2 may appear fast but sometimes it's actually stuttering during gameplay (of course the same for 970 SLI, 980 SLI, 980Ti SLI, Titan X SLI). A lot of games work great with multi-GPUs but others don't.

 

[RussianSensation]

Continued

(3) VRAM capacity

It sounds like you aren't the type of guy who upgrades every 2 years like clock work. In that case, you better pay attention to this one. How bad can it get? BAD, so bad that a $1000 GTX690 is slower or barely faster than a $550 HD7970 solely due to lack of VRAM.

Essentially only a 3-year-old $1000 GTX690 is reduced to the level of performance of a $180 R9 290X and easily gets beaten by a $270 R9 290X, all because it has just 2GB of VRAM.

So now think about it in regard to R9 295X2 vs. GTX980TI = you get a double hit: reliable on CF in all games + 4GB vs. 6GB of VRAM which by the sound of it in your case might actually matter.

(4) Power usage

If only R9 295X2 was actually faster than a GTX980Ti OC, but it's not.

Not only are you going to be wasting electricity at idle.

But at load, it's a massive difference. Your PSU will be fully stressed out. That's not safe.

Now if only that actually provided a much better gaming experience, but it doesn't.

Whatever you do, do not get a $550 R9 295X2 over a $650 980Ti or $650 Fiji card. If you don't play often, perhaps consider getting a stop-gap card for 18 months such as $270 R9 290X or a $300 GTX970 with 2 games. Honestly either of those are great cards for 1080P. If you need more firepower for 1440P, go 980Ti / Fiji. Forget 295X2.

*** I hope these 2 posts get used as a reference by someone in the future why $650 GTX980TI > GTX780Ti SLI, GTX970 SLI, R9 290 CF, R9 290X CF, R9 295X2.

 

[Silverforce11]

@RS

Witcher 3 works great with Crossfire, I know, I got it.

It just needs a small tweak, to disable TemporalAA mode in the rendering.ini file.

It's PRed's mix of TXAA + FXAA, their custom AA doesn't like CF.

This is what Witcher 3 looks like maxed with HairWorks + Tessellation Override:

http://www.techspot.com/review/1011-nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-ti/page6.html

 

[n0x1ous]

Continued

(3) VRAM capacity

It sounds like you aren't the type of guy who upgrades every 2 years like clock work. In that case, you better pay attention to this one. How bad can it get? BAD, so bad that a $1000 GTX690 is slower or barely faster than a $550 HD7970 solely due to lack of VRAM.

Essentially only a 3-year-old $1000 GTX690 is reduced to the level of performance of a $180 R9 290X and easily gets beaten by a $270 R9 290X, all because it has just 2GB of VRAM.

So now think about it in regard to R9 295X2 vs. GTX980TI = you get a double hit: reliable on CF in all games + 4GB vs. 6GB of VRAM which by the sound of it in your case might actually matter.

(4) Power usage

If only R9 295X2 was actually faster than a GTX980Ti OC, but it's not.

Not only are you going to be wasting electricity at idle.

But at load, it's a massive difference. Your PSU will be fully stressed out. That's not safe.

Now if only that actually provided a much better gaming experience, but it doesn't.

Whatever you do, do not get a $550 R9 295X2 over a $650 980Ti or $650 Fiji card. If you don't play often, perhaps consider getting a stop-gap card for 18 months such as $270 R9 290X or a $300 GTX970 with 2 games. Honestly either of those are great cards for 1080P. If you need more firepower for 1440P, go 980Ti / Fiji. Forget 295X2.

*** I hope these 2 posts get used as a reference by someone in the future why $650 GTX980TI > GTX780Ti SLI, GTX970 SLI, R9 290 CF, R9 290X CF, R9 295X2.

Marvelous Summary - nothing like reading RS posts on new GPU launch day

 

[tential]

Marvelous Summary - nothing like reading RS posts on new GPU launch day

Ya I figured RS would talk some sense into me. I have new money to spend and want a nice stopgap until the next series. Something that lets me downsample from high resolutions.
980Ti aftermarket doesn't seem like so bad a solution. I hope the R9 300 series brings a cheaper competitor to it though. Fiji Pro for $600?

 

[n0x1ous]

Ya I figured RS would talk some sense into me. I have new money to spend and want a nice stopgap until the next series. Something that lets me downsample from high resolutions.
980Ti aftermarket doesn't seem like so bad a solution. I hope the R9 300 series brings a cheaper competitor to it though. Fiji Pro for $600?

you should have your answer within the month....the wait is almost over and by the time Fiji launches maybe we have a glimpse on a 980ti lightning/classified....

 

[exar333]

I'm reading through the latest 980 Ti review and this thing is at the top of every chart. Yet the minimums don't look that great. I wish I could see a graph of FPS so I could get a better idea.
So tell me, as a person who rarely games and follows hardware, but finds time for a couple of big titles a year, why would I not get the R9 295x2? It's the CHEAPEST out of all the high end cards, it's the fastest out of all of them for the biggest games in the long run (I don't need to play any game at day 1 ever), why would I not buy this?

I don't play any game that wouldn't have crossfire support, I couldn't think of a single title that has come out right now that is a must play to me that doesn't have CF support.

Are there other problems with crossfire that I'm not accounting for? Will stuttering and other issues just kill me? Will flickering issues simply never ever get fixed and just aren't mentioned in reviews? etc.

Explain to me why I shouldn't get this card as it seems to be the best or high res gaming and that seems perfect for me to use for downsampling using VSR for my 1080p projector until the real game changers come along and it seems like the CHEAPEST option to do so.
Edit: Overclocking maybe? Powersupply?

You really should have posted this Q at the start of the year when the 295x2 was marked-down. It was a great buy then.

With the 980Ti and upcoming AMD cards, this is not a great card to buy any more. Again, 6 months ago it was a fantastic option...

 

[thehotsung8701A]

you should have your answer within the month....the wait is almost over and by the time Fiji launches maybe we have a glimpse on a 980ti lightning/classified....

Can you explain to me more what is the lightning and classified do?

 

[Gikaseixas]

Great card and is faster than anything out there but i would get a single gpu solution. They're approaching 295x2 territory by the minute, don't have SLI/CF issues in newer games, etc

 

[n0x1ous]

Can you explain to me more what is the lightning and classified do?

the lightning is MSI's highest end version. custom PCB more power delivery, aftermarket cooler etc

the classified is the EVGA's version of the same.

Popular cards for high overclocks.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

the lightning is MSI's highest end version. custom PCB more power delivery, aftermarket cooler etc

the classified is the EVGA's version of the same.

Popular cards for high overclocks.

Would you still recommend EVGA over MSI due to their step up program?

 

[n0x1ous]

The step-up is valuable if you know whats coming. In the current market, the step-up won't be any value to a 980ti buyer because there will be no higher end single gpu card until late next year or 2017.

Both great cards but I prefer the Lightning. Howerver, we don't know when that will come out whereas EVGA already has a picture of their upcoming 980ti classified.

 

[sm625]

The 295x2 costs roughly 10 cents more per 4 hour gaming session (above a 980ti). So that is basically 1 dollar more for every 40 hours of gaming, or roughly 1 dollar more per every game you play start to finish. Plus it requires roughly $40 more power supply. If you're spending $1000 a year on gaming hardware and software, it is basically a moot point.

The real issue is the minimum FPS. You have to look at the min fps charts and basically throw away the average fps charts. I do not know why sites even bother to post average fps charts, they should be more of a side note.

With the changes coming with DX12, the 295x2 might see dramatic increases in min fps. Or it might not.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

The step-up is valuable if you know whats coming. In the current market, the step-up won't be any value to a 980ti buyer because there will be no higher end single gpu card until late next year or 2017.

Both great cards but I prefer the Lightning. Howerver, we don't know when that will come out whereas EVGA already has a picture of their upcoming 980ti classified.

So my question to you is why would anyone bother with inferior brand like Asus, Gigabyte, PNY, and Zotac? Though I know that Gigabyte is pretty good with the 970 unless I'm confusing the G4 and G1 with MSI instead.