Dual AMD Radeon R9 295X2 Graphics Cards On A 1000W PSU

[FormatC]

We previously measured the gaming power consumption of two AMD Radeon R9 295X2 graphics cards at 450 W, but other sites arrived at different numbers. We put our measurements to the test with a 1000 W PSU in a sweltering 30 degree Celsius environment!

Dual AMD Radeon R9 295X2 Graphics Cards On A 1000W PSU : Read more

 

[damric]

Where are the rest of the pages to this review?

 

[Johnny Beacon]

why would you deliberately run these cards in 30 degree room? i know why because you want to bring on throttling so you have something to complain about, why because you are nvidia biased and have been for to long a period of time. Ive been reading toms since it started way back in the 90's. But i am becoming sick of the brand bias shown in many reviews. Keep to the facts - real facts about real world situations, if as we all know cards are hot and power hungry run them with an appropriate psu in the appropriate conditions... PS if you can buy 2x295 you can and will afford to run your "expletive" air conditioning!!!!

 

[blackmagnum]

If I had the money to do this stunt... this is for the nerds and geeks who hate Mother nature (and embrace the Industrial Age).

 

[Anakha00]

Did you even read anything past the bolded intro Johnny? The entire point of this "review" had nothing to do with the GPU benchmarks, it was all about what the required wattage is for the 295X2. I'll summarize this article for you and anyone else that just skims it: 295X2 doesn't require as much wattage as other sites may say, but does require certain high quality components only found on specific PSUs.

Also it wasn't even mentioned that the GPU was hitting its throttling temp, at only 8 degrees higher ambient than the review for these GPUs it's likely that they weren't hitting their ceiling of 75 degrees. Here's the page I'm talking about if you want to check: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-295x2-review-benchmark-performance,3799-17.html

 

[Anakha00]

Edit, double post >_<

 

[ohim]

why would you deliberately run these cards in 30 degree room? i know why because you want to bring on throttling so you have something to complain about, why because you are nvidia biased and have been for to long a period of time. Ive been reading toms since it started way back in the 90's. But i am becoming sick of the brand bias shown in many reviews. Keep to the facts - real facts about real world situations, if as we all know cards are hot and power hungry run them with an appropriate psu in the appropriate conditions... PS if you can buy 2x295 you can and will afford to run your "expletive" air conditioning!!!!

Don`t act stupid, some people do live in 30 degree environments ...and having such a card not being able to run in a 30°C room is a serious argument against it. And i do love AMD since my whole rig is based on AMD only but your comment is ridiculous.

 

[InvalidError]

Don`t act stupid, some people do live in 30 degree environments ...and having such a card not being able to run in a 30°C room is a serious argument against it.

Exactly.

Just about any place on Earth except polar caps can have 30-40C days during their summer season and not everyone has AC or runs it continuously. I run my AC mostly for dehumidifaction; on a dry 35C day, I do not usually bother to start it - between the AC's noise and the heat, I prefer the heat as long as it is dry.

 

[i7Baby]

Anyone come across a way to boost radiator fan and pump speeds to minimize throttling?

OPs are complaining about early throttling of these things.

 

[oxiide]

why would you deliberately run these cards in 30 degree room? i know why because you want to bring on throttling so you have something to complain about, why because you are nvidia biased and have been for to long a period of time. Ive been reading toms since it started way back in the 90's. But i am becoming sick of the brand bias shown in many reviews. Keep to the facts - real facts about real world situations, if as we all know cards are hot and power hungry run them with an appropriate psu in the appropriate conditions... PS if you can buy 2x295 you can and will afford to run your "expletive" air conditioning!!!!

I don't even know where to start with this. Tom's didn't run GPU performance benchmarks, they didn't complain about GPU throttling, they fully disclosed the testing environment, and they ended the article by saying POSITIVE things about the R9 295X2. Likewise, their original review of the 295X2 was also generally positive.

They ran the test at 30°C because it is a torture test, its meant to reflect a worst-case scenario. Experiments solely designed around real usage don't tell us anything about the real limitations of these products, and that is very useful information.

If you've really been reading this site since the 90's, surely you'd have noticed a Best Graphics Cards For The Money article once or twice, which are generally dominated by AMD cards.

 

[Daniel Ladishew]

You mention testing with a Corsair AX860i, which seems under powered for a setup that pulls ~1000W. Your PSU reviews usually have high praise for Corsair products, but that specific test seemed designed to fail. Have you considered testing with a Corsair model in the appropriate Wattage range? Say for instance the HX1050 (80+ Gold) or the HX1000i (80+ Platinum)?

 

[youssef 2010]

why would you deliberately run these cards in 30 degree room? i know why because you want to bring on throttling so you have something to complain about, why because you are nvidia biased and have been for to long a period of time. Ive been reading toms since it started way back in the 90's. But i am becoming sick of the brand bias shown in many reviews. Keep to the facts - real facts about real world situations, if as we all know cards are hot and power hungry run them with an appropriate psu in the appropriate conditions... PS if you can buy 2x295 you can and will afford to run your "expletive" air conditioning!!!!

FYI, I have a 290X and I live in Egypt where it sometimes reaches 40C in the shade. So, 30C is very realistic. My computer's position in the house makes it very difficult to install air conditioning without redecorating the place. BTW, I don't think they're being biased at all when they mention the disadvantages of the products they're testing. When they tell you that the 290X review sample differs from every reference board on the market, they're not being biased. When they tell you that you need to either have a good pair of headphones or you need to buy a custom cooler and void your warranty just to be able to live with the card's noise, they're not being biased. I remember they strongly disapproved of Nvidia's decision to disable PhysX an AMD card was detected. They also warned us about an Nvidia driver that fried many GTX 295s IIRC. And here they're just telling you that the two 295s can run at 30C without thermal throttling and don't need more than 1000Watts of power. Aside from the $1500 price point, 295X is a great card.

Finally, Lighten up man and take it easy

 

[Damn_Rookie]

You mention testing with a Corsair AX860i, which seems under powered for a setup that pulls ~1000W. Your PSU reviews usually have high praise for Corsair products, but that specific test seemed designed to fail. Have you considered testing with a Corsair model in the appropriate Wattage range? Say for instance the HX1050 (80+ Gold) or the HX1000i (80+ Platinum)?

The specific comment about the Corsair AX860i in the article mentioned it being destroyed by a single 295X2, not a pair of them.

"Then again, we can also remember situations when a single AMD Radeon R9 295X2 managed to shut down a PSU (PCGH, 1200W Enermax Platimax), or even destroy it outright (Tom's Hardware, Corsair AX860i). In these cases, the power supplies should have had more than enough capacity to handle the hardware."

 

[InvalidError]

They ran the test at 30°C because it is a torture test, its meant to reflect a worst-case scenario.

I would not call 30C a "torture test" since this is normal or even below room temperature for many people during summer. At most, I would call 30C a somewhat optimistic real-world scenario - giving those 295Xs a fighting chance.

A real torture test would start around 40C - a temperature only the hottest habitable climates reach on a somewhat regular basis and few sane people would live in without AC by choice.

 

[robertisha]

So can my seasonic x series 1050 handle both of them..or even 780ti or 295x cf ?

 

[Eggz]

I'm baffled by the percentage of comments pretending to be based on the article, even though they aren't based on the article at all. Skipping words and rushing through sentences isn't reading. It's guessing what an article might say based on partial information.

 

[youssef 2010]

So can my seasonic x series 1050 handle both of them..or even 780ti or 295x cf ?

I think so because the +12V rail is rated @87A while the Be Quiet! Power Zone used in the article is rated for "only" 83A on the +12V rail. Also the X-1050 is 80 Plus Gold Rated while the Be Quiet! PSU is 80 Plus Bronze. I also own the X-1050 so I guess that's good news for me If I feel the desire to upgrade my 290X

 

[rayden54]

You mention testing with a Corsair AX860i, which seems under powered for a setup that pulls ~1000W.

The real question is which of these tests is right? The results directly contradict each other. Either a 860W power supply is enough or it isn't.

The Corsair AX860i is very well reviewed. It should be able to run one of these cards. I'd like to know what happened.

 

[Eggz]

You mention testing with a Corsair AX860i, which seems under powered for a setup that pulls ~1000W.

The real question is which of these tests is right? The results directly contradict each other. Either a 860W power supply is enough or it isn't.

The Corsair AX860i is very well reviewed. It should be able to run one of these cards. I'd like to know what happened.

The AX860i seems to have worked in other tests online. From personal experience with that power supply in my own rig, I can say that I've had it run 2x780ti in SLI with a 750ti on PhysX and everything else in my signature. It was fine. I think that more than shows that the AX860i can run a single R9-295x2 unless something unexpected occurs. Also, I think the fact that Tom's ran two of them on a 1KW PSU shows the same thing.

 

[InvalidError]

The Corsair AX860i is very well reviewed. It should be able to run one of these cards. I'd like to know what happened.

The AX860 that blew up was with a single 295X2; proof that even well-reviewed units can have unexpected failures.

Either a faulty unit or possibly a design flaw that only triggers under some circumstances.

 

[baka187]

cant one just use 2x 550-650w psu's for this kind of setup ?it may be a bit easier to manage the heavy power draw from these cards

 

[rayden54]

The Corsair AX860i is very well reviewed. It should be able to run one of these cards. I'd like to know what happened.

The AX860 that blew up was with a single 295X2; proof that even well-reviewed units can have unexpected failures.

Either a faulty unit or possibly a design flaw that only triggers under some circumstances.

Yes, but I wonder where the fault was.

It's possible that the 295X2 does under certain circumstances draw more power than what's mentioned in this review. Though to jump from 400W to 850W sounds odd. I don't know if it'd be best to have a stronger power supply that might ride out the spikes (if that's what's happening) or .... Dunno.

 

[i7Baby]

Wonder if they test at 45C whether you can use a 600W PSU? They would hardly get used because they'd temp throttle before powering up.

 

[lp231]

The be quiet! PSU is bronze rated while both the Corsair and Enermax are both Platinum rated. Corsair pushed up daises and Enermax previously thought it had fainted, but turns out it was the motherboard. How did you guys find out it was the board and not that Enermax PSU, is there some sort of utility or equipment to help you out?
From the looks of it, that be Quiet PSU is extremely well built and these Olympic style rating for the PSU is nothing but a marketing strategy just to mark up the price of a PSU?
Efficiency =/= Quality
How about testing it out with that Corsair 1500w Titanium?

 

[Johnny Beacon]

PS: no i did not read past the first few lines - i was particularly shitty with the flu and read the opening bit got to the 30degree C bit and lost my shit.

Yes i have been reading toms ever since i o/c my p133 to 166@83mhz back in 95. The articles written about the 290/290x here where overly negative - the cards being cherry picked was shown on other sites not to be true, yet that myth still persists. Also the fan noise and heat issue being referenced long after none reference coolers eliminated all off those shortcomings of the reference design.

I would have thought that the great performance and fantastic price of the 290's should have taken centre stage. After running a 290 gb windforce oc for several months now how can anyone not be impressed by the performance per dollar.