AMD Radeon R9 295X2 Owners Thread

Panos · 6 Feb 2015 at 12:02

AMDMatt said:
I doubt it makes much difference, but I've not tested this personally. Temps are not an issue for me at the moment, but I've not had an extended gaming session yet.

This is with the fans at very low rpm (barely moving) and silent.

As you know over 6 months I extensively use this card overclocked at 1100/1650 with 2 Enermax Magma at 70% speed. (i believe the stock fan alone at 100% speed is fantastic also and silent).

How quiet it is and how cool it runs, amazes me even today and I appreciate it greatly compared to the GTX780 who was shouting at stock speeds under stress.

The 295X2 going to be replace ONLY if AMD pulls out a card, with single GPU that has the same or better AIO cooler, and is 50% faster than a single 290X and overclocks.

Or else, I will upgrade it when 4GB VRAM aren't enough or a single GPU provides more grunt power than my overclocked 295X2.

By far the best graphic card purchase ever, surpasing the card I always said was my best graphic card purchase ever. The ATI 9500NonPro (modded & overclocked to 9700Pro) which lasted years.......

LtMatt · 6 Feb 2015 at 12:15

Panos said:
As you know over 6 months I extensively use this card overclocked at 1100/1650 with 2 Enermax Magma at 70% speed. (i believe the stock fan alone at 100% speed is fantastic also and silent).

How quiet it is and how cool it runs, amazes me even today and I appreciate it greatly compared to the GTX780 who was shouting at stock speeds under stress.

The 295X2 going to be replace ONLY if AMD pulls out a card, with single GPU that has the same or better AIO cooler, and is 50% faster than a single 290X and overclocks.

Or else, I will upgrade it when 4GB VRAM aren't enough or a single GPU provides more grunt power than my overclocked 295X2.

By far the best graphic card purchase ever, surpasing the card I always said was my best graphic card purchase ever. The ATI 9500NonPro (modded & overclocked to 9700Pro) which lasted years.......

I have to agree with you wholeheartedly Panos. I just played 15 minutes of Battlefield 4 at 4K and maximum gpu temps were

57
62
58
61

That was with the fans barely moving, what i use for idle speed. I've been a fan of the AIO kits on cpu's for a while, but this is the first time I've tried it on a gpu.

Smrtka · 6 Feb 2015 at 12:20

AMDMatt said:
I doubt it makes much difference, but I've not tested this personally. Temps are not an issue for me at the moment, but I've not had an extended gaming session yet.

This is with the fans at very low rpm (barely moving) and silent.

Do you have the noctura fans connected to the graphics card pin or manual fan controller ?

Smrtka · 6 Feb 2015 at 12:22

AMDMatt said:
I have to agree with you wholeheartedly Panos. I just played 15 minutes of Battlefield 4 at 4K and maximum gpu temps were

57
62
58
61

That was with the fans barely moving, what i use for idle speed. I've been a fan of the AIO kits on cpu's for a while, but this is the first time I've tried it on a gpu.

What fps you get on those ?

LtMatt · 6 Feb 2015 at 12:25

Smrtka said:
Do you have the noctura fans connected to the graphics card pin or manual fan controller ?

I tried using the graphics card, but neither fan spun up. I'm not sure if this is because the header could not take the power needed for the Noctua fans, or because the fan splitter i was using had a 3 pin and 2 pin connection. Maybe it needed 3 pin per connection, not sure really.

So now I'm using a NZXT fan controller to control the gpu fans.

I might look into another fan splitter though eventually.

Smrtka said:
What fps you get on those ?

Er i wasn't really playing, just sort of standing around to see what the temps were like. It was around 110-170 i guess.

I'm going to leave myself in a server for 20 minutes with the fans at maximum to see what temps are like.

thefogo · 6 Feb 2015 at 12:37

The price on these keeps going up

Smrtka · 6 Feb 2015 at 12:38

AMDMatt said:
I tried using the graphics card, but neither fan spun up. I'm not sure if this is because the header could not take the power needed for the Noctua fans, or because the fan splitter i was using had a 3 pin and 2 pin connection. Maybe it needed 3 pin per connection, not sure really.

So now I'm using a NZXT fan controller to control the gpu fans.

I might look into another fan splitter though eventually.

Er i wasn't really playing, just sort of standing around to see what the temps were like. It was around 110-170 i guess.

I'm going to leave myself in a server for 20 minutes with the fans at maximum to see what temps are like.

Let us know how loud is it as well

LtMatt · 6 Feb 2015 at 12:42

thefogo said:
The price on these keeps going up

Supply vs demand no doubt. I expect stock of these is drying up.

Ask in CS, expect they'll honour the 499 price.

Smrtka said:
Let us know how loud is it as well

With both Noctua fans at 100%? Loud! No where near as loud as the reference cooler at 100% though.

The stats for these fans are:

- Rotational Speed (± 10%): 2000 RPM
- Airflow: 71.7 CFM
- Acoustical Noise: 29.7 dB(A)
- Static Pressure: 3.94 mm H2O

I wanted the 3,000 rpm versions but they're only 4 pin.

Smrtka · 6 Feb 2015 at 13:00

Hmm I might upgrade the fans then too, just to keep it nice and cool...now that you know that you are not going to use the fan header on GPU but a full on fan controller you might as well get the the 4 pin ones no ?

LtMatt · 6 Feb 2015 at 13:04

Smrtka said:
Hmm I might upgrade the fans then too, just to keep it nice and cool...now that you know that you are not going to use the fan header on GPU but a full on fan controller you might as well get the the 4 pin ones no ?

The fan controller I'm using won't work with 4 pin headers and last time i tried it made one of the Noctua fans squeal like a pig. Couldn't put up with that!

Here's 30 minutes of Zavod in an empty server, 4K standing in base fps 150-180.

I had to increase voltage +0.005v for stability.

This was with both Noctua fans at 100%.

Divine Pain · 6 Feb 2015 at 13:14

Wow the prices on these has gone up a bit on these, short supply?

I blame Matt.

LtMatt · 6 Feb 2015 at 13:20

Divine Pain said:
Wow the prices on these has gone up a bit on these, short supply?

I blame Matt.

Sorry folks, guess i influenced some purchases with 'The Red Baron'.

Smrtka · 6 Feb 2015 at 13:51

AMDMatt said:
The fan controller I'm using won't work with 4 pin headers and last time i tried it made one of the Noctua fans squeal like a pig. Couldn't put up with that!

Here's 30 minutes of Zavod in an empty server, 4K standing in base fps 150-180.

I had to increase voltage +0.005v for stability.

This was with both Noctua fans at 100%.

Amazing ! I am now thinking about new fans... Would you consider any other (not 20quid a pop) fan that might work well enough ?

LtMatt · 6 Feb 2015 at 13:54

Smrtka said:
Amazing ! I am now thinking about new fans... Would you consider any other (not 20quid a pop) fan that might work well enough ?

I always look for high static pressure fans rather than high CFM, especially as this is a thicker 120MM rad.

I swear by the Noctua Industrials, but before that i used Gentle Typhoons. Problem is, neither of those are cheap - and GT's are EOL. I expect others here can suggest other fans, but you get what pay for typically.

Smrtka · 6 Feb 2015 at 13:58

AMDMatt said:
I always look for high static pressure fans rather than high CFM, especially as this is a thicker 120MM rad.

I swear by the Noctua Industrials, but before that i used Gentle Typhoons. Problem is, neither of those are cheap - and GT's are EOL. I expect others here can suggest other fans, but you get what pay for typically.

Fair enough, I will save up and get them for summer as now its not needed...maxing only on 68 degrees...

up2nogooduk · 6 Feb 2015 at 14:00

AMDMatt said:
I have to agree with you wholeheartedly Panos. I just played 15 minutes of Battlefield 4 at 4K and maximum gpu temps were

57
62
58
61

That was with the fans barely moving, what i use for idle speed. I've been a fan of the AIO kits on cpu's for a while, but this is the first time I've tried it on a gpu.

That's excellent temps Matt.
What settings you running @ on 4k in bf4. What free sync monitor you waiting for.

Would there be much lag using a 60hz monitor compared to say 120, 144hz @4k.
If I use 60hz compared to 144 with 1440p monitor, the 144 feel so much nicer.

I Must say it's an excellent card. Was thinking about getting another, but not sure if I notice much difference, seeing I have this and a lightning running?

LtMatt · 6 Feb 2015 at 14:05

up2nogooduk said:
That's excellent temps Matt.
What settings you running @ on 4k in bf4. What free sync monitor you waiting for.

Would there be much lag using a 60hz monitor compared to say 120, 144hz @4k.
If I use 60hz compared to 144 with 1440p monitor, the 144 feel so much nicer.

I Must say it's an excellent card. Was thinking about getting another, but not sure if I notice much difference, seeing I have this and a lightning running?

I was running maximum, but AA was at x2 as i was also testing the video memory usage of Mantle at 4K. It appears to have dropped a little bit from when i last checked.

As you already have a lightning, i would not bother.

LtMatt · 6 Feb 2015 at 14:27

I'd be interested to hear from other 295x2 users as to what fans they're using, is anyone using a fan controller etc? Or is everyone using the stock fan?

thefogo · 6 Feb 2015 at 14:30

Did you try the stock fan at all Matt?
I do have some spare Noctua's but not sure which would be better.

LtMatt · 6 Feb 2015 at 14:30

thefogo said:
Did you try the stock fan at all Matt?
I do have some spare Noctua's but not sure which would be better.

I did. I'd love to know the rated specs of it because it was very quiet. I wanted two fans though so i was always going to swap it out.