The AMD Radeon R9 295X2 Review
by Ryan Smith on April 8, 2014 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- AMD
- Radeon
- Radeon 200
Metro: Last Light
As always, kicking off our look at performance is 4A Games’ latest entry in their Metro series of subterranean shooters, Metro: Last Light. The original Metro: 2033 was a graphically punishing game for its time and Metro: Last Light is in its own right too. On the other hand it scales well with resolution and quality settings, so it’s still playable on lower end hardware.
Our first gaming benchmark pretty much sets the tone for what we’ll be seeing in this review. In building the 295X2 AMD set out to build a single card that could match the performance of the 290X “Uber” In Crossfire, and that is exactly what we see happening here. The 295X2 and 290XU CF swap places due to run-to-run variation, but ultimately both tie together, whether it’s above the GTX 780 Ti SLI or below it.
As we’ve already seen with the 290X, thanks in part to AMD’s ROP advantage, AMD’s strong suit is in very high resolutions. This leads to the 295X2 edging out the competition at 2160p, while being edged out itself at 1440p. None the less between AMD and NVIDIA setups this is a very close fight thus far, and will be throughout. As for Metro, even at the punishing resolution of 2160, the 295X2 is fast enough to keep this game going at above 50fps.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
131 Comments
View All Comments
ruggia - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - link
I'm looking at results from pcper and toms too and I see nothing "broken". In most cases variances are better than 780 sli or low enough to not be an issuemagnusmundus - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - link
With a closed loop cooler for both GPU and CPU, you might as well go for a full custom loop and get better cooling and nicer aesthetics.kyuu - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - link
Er... no? Two CLCs are still quite a bit different from setting up a custom loop.cknobman - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - link
Your gaming test suite kinda sucks, please update it.Ryan Smith - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - link
The gaming test suite is a constant work in progress, so we're always looking for new games to add to it.Do you have anything in particular you'd like to see? (Keeping in mind that it needs to be practical to benchmark it)
Earballs - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link
Titanfall at or above 1440 would be most lovelyjkhoward - Thursday, April 10, 2014 - link
I still think that WoW should still be included in these benchmarks..devione - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - link
Is it really impossible to cool this card without using an AIO cooler, like the Titan Z?mickulty - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - link
That would require either huge amounts of binning that drives price right up (like the Titan Z), and/or significant reductions in clock speed to accommodate reduced voltage (almost certainly like the Titan Z), resulting in a card that's both overpriced and underpowered (like...). Of course, it's not really fair to compare a card that's with reviewers now and on the shelves in 2 weeks with a card that has only ever been seen as a mockup on one of nvidia's slides =).devione - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - link
Fair points.I just have an irrational dislike for AIO coolers. I would hope to see custom aire cooled via 3rd party variants, but for a variety of practical reasons I doubt that is going to happen.