AMD announced its flagship graphics card for this generation, the dual-GPU Radeon R9 295X2. Based on a pair of fully-loaded "Hawaii" GPUs, the same ones that drive the R9 290X, the card features a premium built with an air+liquid hybrid cooling solution. Each of the card's two chips feature 2,816 GCN2 stream processors, 176 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 512-bit wide GDDR5 memory interfaces, holding 4 GB of memory. The total memory amount on the card is hence 8 GB. It uses a PLX PEX8747 PCIe gen 3.0 x48 bridge chip to marshal data between the two GPUs, and the rest of the system. The best part, it draws power from just two 8-pin PCIe power connectors.
The new Hawaii GPU on the 290 and 290X however has a completely overhauled crossfire system. Not only is a crossfire bridge no longer needed to put two of these card in crossfire mode due to the XDMA system, smarter drivers also add frame pacing , making the problems shown in the FCAT benchmark as well as micro-stuttering largely a thing of the pas. The Hawaii chip is better suited to dual GPU solutions than any of its predecessors.
The PCB itself is 14 layers, making it an especially intricate PCB, but one necessary to carry 500W while also routing 1024 GDDR5 lines and 48 PCIe 3 lanes. For power delivery and regulation AMD is using a 4+1+1 design for each GPU, which breaks down to 4 power phases for the GPU, one power phase for the memory interface, and one power phase for the memory itself. This 4+1+1 setup is functional for AMD’s needs at stock settings, but between the CLLC and the power delivery system it’s clear that AMD hasn’t built this board for extreme overclocking.
The 2 8pin PCIe power sockets that are found at the top right side of the card. For those of our readers who can quote PCIe specifications by heart, the standard limit for an 8pin PCIe socket is 150W, which in this configuration would mean that the R9 295X2 has a 375W (150+150+75) power delivery system. AMD is essentially designing to the capabilities of the hardware rather than the PCIe specification, and the PCI-SIG for their part is not an enforcement body.
Dual dual-GPU (Quadfire) setups are especially popular with boutique builders and their customers, and very few PSUs offer more than 4 8pin PCIe power plugs. By using just 2 power sockets the R9 295X2 is compatible with a wider range of PSUs when being used in Quadfire setups. AMD’s official system requirements for the R9 295X2 call for a PSU that can deliver 28A per 8pin PCIe power connector, with a combined amperage of 50A. For most PSUs this means you’re looking at an 800W PSU being required for a single card, and a 1500W PSU for a Quadfire setup.
AMD is using the same setup as they used for the 7990, with 4 mini-DisplayPort connectors and a single DL-DVI-D connector sharing the bottom row of the I/O bracket, while the top of the bracket is dedicated to exhausting hot air. With a single R9 290X already capable of driving most games at high settings on single-display (2560x1600/1440) resolutions, the R9 295X2 is primarily targeted towards users who are either using 4K displays or using Eyefinity setups, either of which is best matched with DisplayPorts rather than additional DVI/HDMI ports. As always these are dual-mode ports, so they can easily be converted to HDMI and DVI if the need arises.
The PCB itself is 14 layers, making it an especially intricate PCB, but one necessary to carry 500W while also routing 1024 GDDR5 lines and 48 PCIe 3 lanes. For power delivery and regulation AMD is using a 4+1+1 design for each GPU, which breaks down to 4 power phases for the GPU, one power phase for the memory interface, and one power phase for the memory itself. This 4+1+1 setup is functional for AMD’s needs at stock settings, but between the CLLC and the power delivery system it’s clear that AMD hasn’t built this board for extreme overclocking.
The 2 8pin PCIe power sockets that are found at the top right side of the card. For those of our readers who can quote PCIe specifications by heart, the standard limit for an 8pin PCIe socket is 150W, which in this configuration would mean that the R9 295X2 has a 375W (150+150+75) power delivery system. AMD is essentially designing to the capabilities of the hardware rather than the PCIe specification, and the PCI-SIG for their part is not an enforcement body.
Dual dual-GPU (Quadfire) setups are especially popular with boutique builders and their customers, and very few PSUs offer more than 4 8pin PCIe power plugs. By using just 2 power sockets the R9 295X2 is compatible with a wider range of PSUs when being used in Quadfire setups. AMD’s official system requirements for the R9 295X2 call for a PSU that can deliver 28A per 8pin PCIe power connector, with a combined amperage of 50A. For most PSUs this means you’re looking at an 800W PSU being required for a single card, and a 1500W PSU for a Quadfire setup.
AMD is using the same setup as they used for the 7990, with 4 mini-DisplayPort connectors and a single DL-DVI-D connector sharing the bottom row of the I/O bracket, while the top of the bracket is dedicated to exhausting hot air. With a single R9 290X already capable of driving most games at high settings on single-display (2560x1600/1440) resolutions, the R9 295X2 is primarily targeted towards users who are either using 4K displays or using Eyefinity setups, either of which is best matched with DisplayPorts rather than additional DVI/HDMI ports. As always these are dual-mode ports, so they can easily be converted to HDMI and DVI if the need arises.
| AMD Radeon R9 295X2 120mm Radiator Fan Speeds | |||||||||||
| Spec | Measured | ||||||||||
| Idle | 1200 RPM +/- 10% | ~1340 RPM | |||||||||
| Full Load | 2000 RPM +/- 10% | ~1860 RPM | |||||||||
| General | ||
|---|---|---|
 |  | |
| Brand | AMD | AMD |
| Product name | Radeon R9 290X (Uber Mode) | Radeon R9 295X2 |
| Product code | RADEON R9 290X-UBER | RADEON R9 295X2 |
| Details | ||
| Specifications | ||
| Codename chip | Hawaii | Hawaii |
| Interface | PCI-Express 3.0 x16 | PCI-Express 3.0 x16 |
| Memory | 4096 MB | 8192 MB |
| Clock frequency - Core | 1000 MHz | 1018 MHz |
| Clock frequency - Memory | 1250 MHz | 1250 MHz |
| Memory controller | 512 bit | 512 bit |
| Memory type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| DirectX version | DirectX 11.2 | DirectX 11.2 |
| Unified shaders | 2816 shading units | 5632 shading units |
| Extra power connector |  | |
| Power connector type | PEG6+PEG8 | 2x PEG8 |
| Chip - Transistor count | 6200 mln | 12400 mln |
| Chip - Production technology | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| SLI compatible |  | |
| Crossfire compatible | | |
| Integrated H.264 video decoder | | |
| Integrated VC-1 video decoder | | |
| Maximum power usage (TDP) | 500 W | |
| Length | 27.6 cm | 30.7 cm |
| AMD GPU Specification Comparison | ||||||
| AMD Radeon R9 295X2 | AMD Radeon R9 290X | AMD Radeon HD 7990 | AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | |||
| Stream Processors | 2 x 2816 | 2816 | 2 x 2048 | 2048 | ||
| Texture Units | 2 x 176 | 176 | 2 x 128 | 128 | ||
| ROPs | 2 x 64 | 64 | 2 x 32 | 32 | ||
| Core Clock | ? | 727MHz | 950MHz | 1000MHz | ||
| Boost Clock | 1018MHz | 1000MHz | 1000MHz | 1050MHz | ||
| Memory Clock | 5GHz GDDR5 | 5GHz GDDR5 | 6GHz GDDR5 | 6GHz GDDR5 | ||
| Memory Bus Width | 2 x 512-bit | 512-bit | 2 x 384-bit | 384-bit | ||
| VRAM | 2 x 4GB | 4GB | 2 x 3GB | 3GB | ||
| FP64 | 1/8 | 1/8 | 1/4 | 1/4 | ||
| TrueAudio | Y | Y | N | N | ||
| Transistor Count | 2 x 6.2B | 6.2B | 2 x 4.31B | 4.31B | ||
| Typical Board Power | 500W | 250W | 375W | 250W | ||
| Manufacturing Process | TSMC 28nm | TSMC 28nm | TSMC 28nm | TSMC 28nm | ||
| Architecture | GCN 1.1 | GCN 1.1 | GCN 1.0 | GCN 1.0 | ||
| GPU | Hawaii | Hawaii | Tahiti | Tahiti | ||
| Launch Date | 04/21/2014 | 10/24/2013 | 04/23/2013 | 06/22/2012 | ||
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