Hey Everyone Looking To Purchasing The R9 295X2

[zazally]

Hello everyone. My Birthday is just around the corner, and I am looking to buy the R9 295X2 Radeon card. I know nothing about computers, I just like having one that can play games on max settings at 1080p. My current monitor is a BENQ 120hz 27 inch and I love it. I am currently using a radeon 7970 3 gig card overclocked edition, but I want to upgrade. I want to have a graphics card that can easily support 1440p resolution when I upgrade my monitor in the near future. I was wondering is it worth buying the R9 295X2? I was thinking that or 2 780ti's Nvidia SLI. I only have a Corsair 850 wat HX professional series power supply, and I don't really want to have to buy another power supply if I don't need to. My computer is your standard PC with no fancy extras. I have 1 SSD and 3 hard drives. I also use noctua NH-U14S CPU Cooler. Anyway I am worried if I go out and buy the Radeon 295X2 or 2 780ti's I wont have the right connectors, but I should. Anyway would love some feedback from more intelligent people please. Thank you so much for reading. Take care!

 

[cst1992]

Just don't do a screen capture - use an external camera to shoot the video.
Screen capture will tax the CPU heavily, affecting your results.

 

[zazally]

Okay it is installed and running. The exhaust fan I removed to put the radiator fan in it's place, do I need to install that fan again or can I just leave it out of my case for good? Thank you for all your assistance. Videos will be up soon as well as pictures.

 

[RobCrezz]

Okay it is installed and running. The exhaust fan I removed to put the radiator fan in it's place, do I need to install that fan again or can I just leave it out of my case for good? Thank you for all your assistance. Videos will be up soon as well as pictures.

You can use them both for better cooling in Push/pull if you have room, i have my gpu cooler setup this way:

Or you can just move it to the front as another intake or the top as another exhaust.

 

[zazally]

so far 37 degrees idle temps. That is a safe link of GPU-Z. A picture and video will be uploaded soon.


(BTW, I took out the link for too much personal information. You're welcome! - 17)

 

[cst1992]

You didn't have to tell the whole world who you are in the process.
From that standpoint, it's not safe.
Well, pleased to meet you anyway.
13/05/2014 17:29

 

[zazally]

Likewise cst1992. I thank you so much for your assistance and everyone else who has contributed to this thread. I am so happy. GPU-Z is only showing just over 4 gig video memory though. I thought I had 8 gigs?

 

[cst1992]

No, it's right.
4 gigabytes per GPU. It's just R9 290x crossfire.

 

[Rationale]

Likewise cst1992. I thank you so much for your assistance and everyone else who has contributed to this thread. I am so happy. GPU-Z is only showing just over 4 gig video memory though. I thought I had 8 gigs?

The card technically does have 8GB, but your 295 is 2 cards packed into 1. Each card has 4GB, and they are required to hold the same data, so you can only use 4GB. The other 4GB disappears, pretty much. That's one of the disadvantages of getting an extremely powerful dual-card like the 295.

It won't matter however, as 4GB is more than enough. At 1080p or even 1440p you'll never come close to using all of it.
In terms of effectiveness and optimization:
256MB+ is ideal for 480p
512MB+ is ideal for 720p
768MB-1GB+ is ideal for 900p
1GB-1.5GB+ is ideal for 1080p
2GB+ is ideal for 1440p
3GB-4GB+ is ideal for 4K
6GB+ is a waste for anything besides professional rendering.

 

[mr91]

.

 

[zazally]

The only problem I have is that when I run things as administrator things like programs my screen goes black for a second. Didn't do that with my 7970. They probably don't even have drivers for this card yet well optimal ones.

 

[mr91]

Could be the sign of a damaged pci express slot.

I suggest trying a alternative slot.

I've encountered problems like this is the past.

If the problem still persists call saphire.

 

[zazally]

It isn't that big of a deal. You think it I should worry about it?

 

[zazally]

After searching google I found some solutions I am going to try. Fully re-install my drivers and ;ower your User Account Control settings,worked on mine. Heck,it would do it on one monitor alone for me,now I have 3 ! One notch below recommended setting should be fine.

 

[zazally]

GPU-Z is not picking up my fan speed also.

 

[zazally]

Also when re-installing my drivers I had a yellow question mark. I don't know what I did wrong.

 

[zazally]

Installation complete (warnings occurred during installation). View log for details


Hardware information

Name AMD Radeon Graphics Processor
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x67b9
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x030000
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0b2a
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1002
Other hardware

Existing packages
Packages for install
AMD Catalyst Install Manager
Final Status: Success
Version of Item: 8.0.916.0
Size: 20 Mbytes
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x86)
Final Status: Success
Version of Item: 11.0.50727
Size: 9 Mbytes
AMD Display Driver
Final Status: Success
Version of Item: 14.100.0.0000
Size: 90 Mbytes
HDMI Audio Driver
Final Status: Success
Version of Item: 9.0.0.9905
Size: 1 Mbytes
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64)
Final Status: Success
Version of Item: 11.0.50727
Size: 9 Mbytes
AMD Accelerated Video Transcoding
Final Status: Success
Version of Item: 13.30.100.40415
Size: 3 Mbytes
AMD Catalyst Control Center
Final Status: Success
Version of Item: 2014.0415.2225.38428
Size: 150 Mbytes
ACP Application
Final Status: Success
Version of Item: 1.00.0000
Size: 1 Mbytes
AMD Gaming Evolved App
Final Status: Success
Version of Item: 1.10.000
Size: 49 Mbytes


Other detected devices


Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0xaac8
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x040300
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0xaac8
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1002

AMD Radeon Graphics Processor

Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x67b9
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x038000
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x1b2a
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1002

 

[zazally]

I think maybe it has something to do with my registries?

 

[zazally]

Should I disable intel (R) HD Graphics 4600? Or uninstall it under display adapters in device manager?

 

[jshoop]

hd graphics should already be disabled, but if it isnt disable it. i wouldnt uninstall it because if the card dies and you dont have a backup you wouldnt be able to use your computer without a different graphics card to put in i dont think. also, make sure you enable crossfire so that both gpus on the 295x2 will run

 

[zazally]

Nvm. It installed perfectly. I just removed some loose files in the registry. Also turning off UAC fixed the black screen problem. Do you think it is my card or faulty PCIE slot? Or just a UAC thing. Thank you.

 

[zazally]

My desktop wallpaper loads fine, but after a short time it goes plain black. :S

 

[zazally]

I am going to try malwarebytes and see if that is the problem.

 

[zazally]

Ignore everything I said. The card is now working perfectly. I am getting 69 degrees c on games such as Far Cry 3, Battlefield 4, Crysis 3 all at max settings. I hope those temperatures are fine.

 

[jshoop]

they are great temps for a dual card. water cooling helps alot. what was the problem?

 

[zazally]

I was getting black screens for a second while running programs as administrator. It would also turn my current desktop picture to just a plain black screen. I turned of UAC settings or whatever and I don't have this problem anymore. Also my drivers were not installing properly, but I fixed it by making sure all the registries were deleted, started safe mode, used driver sweeper and then everything worked perfectly. I am loving this card. I am constantly getting over 110 frames per second on every game I play max settings.