Sapphire or XFX for latest 295x GPU?

Feb 15, 2015
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I've narrowed my choices down to Sapphire or XFX for a 295x2 GPU - so here's the question:

Besides a $80 difference between Sapphire ($744) and XFX ($664) versions of the R9 295x2, are board quality, and aftermarket customer service and support equal enough to just pick the cheaper one?

Thanks for any help!
 
Solution
XFX since they have a lifetime warranty as long as the gpu is registered within 30 days of purchase and the price is cheaper. I've owned at least 6 AMD gpus by XFX and have never needed to use the warranty for them.


That's a solid-sounding recommendation! I'm looking for just that, since the price difference made me a little leery, and considering all the scuttlebutt on various boards trashing XFX customer service.
 
AMD R3XX Benchmarks (??)
From Guru3D

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More at the link

 
I'm thinking of the R9 295X2 in this perspective: for $659 I get two Watercooled R9 290X's crossfired, as opposed to buying two separate cards (and two separate watercooling solutions) and crossfiring them - which still wouldn't be quite as fast as the 295X2, and would sure be more expensive.

For example on BF4, the single R9 295X2 pulls 48 FPS while two 290X's in crossfire pull 46, both at Ultra Quality:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-295x2-crossfire-performance,3808-4.html
 


Why is that the R9 295x2 only has a 2 year warranty when XFX has been putting Lifetime warranties on there cards as long as I remember? Even the last card I got from XFX (R9 290) was lifetime warranty. I hope that doesn't mean theres a chance that the R9 295x2 will fail after 2 years...
 
The honest answer is we have always wanted to limit the warranty to 2 years for the dual GPU cards (4870x2, 5970, 6990). Because they are so bizarre and limited in quantity, its really difficult to replace them after 2 years. If it was a strict 2 year warranty, we could more easily calculate how many units to keep in RMA stock, then liquidate them after the warranties all expire

The tech team pushed for it... When a customer calls in with a HD-597X-ENFN, a 6 mini DP output 4GB 5970 card.... I dont have any products that can output 6 mini display-ports in the current lineup, so i have to replace it with a strange compromise of "Here's what i can do..."

Anyway, we still keep the lifetime warranty on all the other dual fan products or anything sold from Best Buy. Dont forget to register and keep your receipt!

Thanks

XFX Support
 



That's understandable, and not at all an issue for me. I figure in two year's time I'll probably be one of those wanting to buy one of the for-RMA-earmarked units, at a substantial discount of course, lol. By then the driver situation might make for a smoother crossfire setup with two of these units - see Tom's review of them in crossfire for example.

I really appreciate you showing up and addressing my concerns too, by the way, so thank you! I've not put a new system together in about 7 years now, so not only has the tech changed of course, but so have the some of the big players in hardware from when I lived and breathed all this 😉

On a side note, I think I'll pair this monster up with an i7-4790k: I can't wait to play Homeworld Remastered on a new system!

I've only built AMD before this, but the Darkside has better cookies. AMD's CPU "strategy" and the resulting dearth of innovative MoBos for their high end offerings, has not impressed me enough to buy the last new AM3+ socket CPU they will ever make, and a MoBo for it. I was going to, but I've come around to the Darkside for now.



 


Ty for explaining that XFX!!!

If you get HW Remastered hopefully you have a large 1080P HDTV (Or 4K!) to play it on, i'm sure it looks absolutely beautiful. I played HW2 original the other day on my 37" Samsung 1080P HDTV and it looks great, even for a game that 15 years old. Also yea ive gone Intel as well (my sig) :/ , but I will say that my previous system which was a AMD 965 BE & XFX R9 290 (sold to a friend) is still going strong to today's standards and plays most games on High/Ultra @1080P and that's with no OC. Well good luck with your build!