back to article AMD unveils Godzilla's graphics card – 'the world's fastest, period'

AMD has unveiled a massively powerful, water-cooled graphics card that it says "manhandles today's and tomorrow's games in maximum settings at 4K resolution." AMD R9 295X2 graphics card with cooling system Two fans and a closed-loop cooling system keep the AMD Radeon R9 295X2 from melting down "The AMD Radeon R9 295X2 …

COMMENTS

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  1. El_Fev

    Damn it...

    Time for an upgrade!

  2. Bronek Kozicki
    Coat

    500W

    enough said

  3. phil dude
    Thumb Up

    green sc..

    According to Green500 (June 2012) list BlueGene/Q, Power BQC 16C runs at 2.100 Gflops/W.

    Using the marketing number of 11000Gflops/500W, ~ 22Gflops/W, and it can sit on your desk....!

    There of course, is the whole thorny issue of drivers and applications (OpenCL vs CUDA) etc.....

    P.

  4. rav

    Gaming.... ?? Nahhh

    Litecoin mining!!!!

  5. Steven Raith

    Holy crap..

    I'll bet that runs Crysis!

    1. Breen Whitman

      Re: Holy crap..

      Yes. Average 28fps at 4k rez so its certainly a new day.

  6. Belardi

    For people who don't get laid.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      I don't see why rumpy-pumpy and gpus don't mix?

    2. LaeMing

      Re: For people who don't get laid.

      You must have very unusually-shaped bodily orifices.

      1. Steven Raith

        Re: For people who don't get laid.

        Mini-displayport sized?

      2. LaeMing
        Happy

        Re: For people who don't get laid.

        My comment above was for Belardi, not Destroy All Monsters (though it works for both!).

  7. Nate Amsden

    what more can a gamer ask for?

    How bout good stable drivers? I keep seeing reports of people having issues with AMD drivers.. Maybe they fixed them for the most part by now. I have been a Nvidia user since 1999 or so (for the most part Linux exclusive). Very few issues for me on nv over the years. I hear NV has issues too on linux at least on some bleeding edge systems (my desktop+laptop runs Ubuntu 10.04 with 2.6 kernel still). I do have one Radeon at home (onboard graphics) though all it does is a picture slide show (though it is stable at doing that - I did install the proprietary drivers on Linux in order to get HDMI audio working through the card)

  8. Eddy Ito

    At 500 watts it needs to be asked, when do we start seeing GPU mainboards with a PCIe like slot for the low power peripherals, you know like the CPU, memory, etc?

    1. Don Dumb
      Thumb Up

      Power & Cooling

      @Eddy Ito - It's an interesting proposition. Build around the GPU rather than the CPU.

      I like the fact that AMD have thought a bit about cooling and keeping the card quiet, often just a big noisy fan is the only cooling.

      It would be interesting if the card's cooling system can be integrated with liquid case cooling setups, taking the liquid from the card to the case liquid cooling box rather than the GPU's cooling box. If so, using this as the base for cooling the CPU and memory would make for an interesting design.

  9. Oninoshiko

    Are you an "ultra-enthusiast at the apex of PC gaming?"

    At 1500 USD for the title? No.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Gigantomania

    GTX 750 TI works just fine...

    1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Gigantomania

      Have to agree my days of bankrupting myself are long gone and so are my eyes (Can't see 1080p on monitor so have 720p as getting glasses every ther year is also expensive)

  11. NoneSuch Silver badge

    I want three running in CrossFire mode so I can play Far Cry 3 on my 4K TV.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "I want three running in CrossFire mode so I can play Far Cry 3 on my 4K TV."

      Time to upgrade your house-to-grid connection.

      1. DropBear

        To be fair, if this thing eats around 500W, three of them eat 1500W - and there's nothing particularly remarkable about that in a domestic power context...

        1. Stevie

          Bah!

          Agreed, but you will be powering all this (plus the "peripheral CPU") for a damn sight longer than your kettle.

          Visions of Clark Griswold's electricity meter (Christmas Vacation) are dancing before my eyes.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "To be fair, if this thing eats around 500W, three of them eat 1500W"

          I was being (mostly) facetious. But....total system power including PSU efficiency will be around 2.5 kW, before your screen (say another 300W). So like having a 3 kW fan heater on without thermostatic control. Use that in a room for any length of time and you'd need powered cooling anytime other than having a window open in a fairly cold winter. If the cooling system is aircon then you'd be consuming 7.5kWe to dump 2.5 KWth, making for 10kW continuous demand (in the UK average consumption is about 1kW - peaks are higher, but this system could still push the peak up by double.

          Or you could use a very powerful (250W?) fan to change the air in the room. 2.7kW is still two and half times the average UK usage and the fan might not be as effective as you hope (because it is surprisingly difficult to actually clear the volume of air in a room by a fan). It'd be like sitting inside your PC.

          1. DropBear
            Trollface

            Oh, when you put it like that, sure. I just assumed the water blocks were chained up and plugged into the house's water boiler and you just take frequent hot baths...

        3. Ken Hagan Gold badge

          Nothing *particularly* remarkable, except that the only appliances in my house that eat more than 500W are the ones with heating elements in them. In other words, they were designed specifically to warm stuff up.

  12. All names Taken
    Happy

    Can it do PowerPoint slides?

  13. Blane Bramble

    In the meantime...

    NVidia 8800GT FTW!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: In the meantime...

      "NVidia 8800GT FTW!"

      You've still got one that hasn't burnt out? Marvellous cards, but not exactly a long lived beast IME.

  14. E 2

    Diminshing returns

    It does whet my technolust, but I've an HD7970 that floats my boat nicely.

    1. Steven Raith

      Re: Diminshing returns

      I'm running a 7770 and it's doing me fine.

      That said, I recently watched some playthrouigh of Metro Last Light, and as it's on Linux, I think my birthday present to myself this year might be a slightly newer GPU, now that the current crop of fast-as-feck and low power (in comparison to previous GPUs in watts-per-FPS terms) cards seem to have hit real world (IE sub £200) prices.

      Don't think it'll be this though, seeing as the only other games I really play are half Life and Serious Sam 3, natch.

      1. Infidellic_

        Re: Diminshing returns

        I have an x1950 Pro. It's done me well but it's starting to show it's age in the latest (and not so latest) stuff. But I rarely game any longer not entirely sure I will upgrade with anything > £60 when I get around to it as it's simply not worth it for my habit any more. $1500 is simply insane, that's more than my entire system cost when assembled back in 2007

    2. Steve Foster

      Re: Diminshing returns

      I just dropped £50 for an R7 (having previously had a 5450, though that had to be hijacked for a new Esxi box I was building). And I thought that was pushing the boat out somewhat!

  15. Zilla

    Piss off, period.

    That is all.

  16. janimal
    Unhappy

    I'd like one, but I'd also like a 458 Italia. The chances of getting either in the near future are equally likely.

  17. cyke1

    AMD claims 500watts, but most tests show single 290x's pulling more like 300 watts so this card most likely in the end will eat closer to 600watts. 2x8pin's per specs are 150watts each (they can do more but still)

    1. Steven Raith

      Anandtech tested it in their standard overclocked i7 test rig, total system draw at load was under 700W under either gaming or Furmark (which was the only thing that made it throttle).

      Given that an OC'd i7 can draw 90w by itself, I'd say the 500W figure is pretty much on the nose.

      oh, and idle power draw for the system? Under 100W.

      We've come a long way, baby...

  18. Frank N. Stein

    Somewhere, rich pro and amateur gamers are reading this and getting a stiffy for some AMD Love...

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My girlfriend would be interested in the worlds fastest, period.

  20. SineWave242

    I have to say only this: 3000$ for a VGA?! LOL LOL and some more LOL

  21. Acme Fixer

    not gaming...

    I'd like to run Photoshop without a built-in coffee break!

    1. andreas koch
      Unhappy

      @ Acme Fixer - Re: not gaming...

      Sorry, but there is no hardware solution for Photoshop or Lightroom. Specially not for CC.

      1. stu 4

        Re: @ Acme Fixer - not gaming...

        "Sorry, but there is no hardware solution for Photoshop or Lightroom. Specially not for CC."

        eh ?

        yes there is: most modern graphics cards. including this one.

        http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cs6-gpu-faq.html

        1. andreas koch
          Unhappy

          @ stu4 - Re: @ Acme Fixer - not gaming...

          CC. CS?

          How much happens on the GPU? Tried it?

          Sigh. Nevermind.

          1. stu 4

            Re: @ stu4 - @ Acme Fixer - not gaming...

            "CC. CS?

            How much happens on the GPU? Tried it?

            Sigh. Nevermind."

            yes. every day.

            lots.

            1. andreas koch
              Pint

              @ stu4 - getting interested

              So you're saying that PS and LR really heavily profit from a supported GPU? I had given up on that idea...

              Not meant sarky, I'm genuinely interested in your findings there.

    2. Hans 1
      Joke

      Re: not gaming...

      Try gimp!

  22. lambda_beta
    Linux

    500W

    But does it need a cooling system flush every 20k watts?

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yes but does it play...

    ....PONG?

  24. AlanS

    I'll stick with Sudoku on my phone.

  25. FuzzyTheBear

    Pondering an upgrade..

    One of the boxes here that i use as gateway/firewall and simple surfing has a venerable

    Voodoo 3 .. One day ill change ( maybe ) but like for anything else the use drives the purchase. Nice card for those that can afford it but afaic , 4k can go to hell. Ill wait till all my gear is borked and 8k or 16k is in . The video quality difference between 1080 and 4k does not warrant shelving gear.

  26. Jonjonz

    The Official TFK Graphics Card

    For the 1% or their trust fund kids only...

  27. MonkeyCee

    More stats needed

    Most importantly, what's it's hash? Better than a pair of 290x?

    Because no-one in their right mind buys an AMD card for gaming. For mining and gaming, sure :)

    I use r9 270, since you can often get 270x performance out of them, if you're lucky 500 khash/s, for ~130 watts. Depending a bit on what undervolt and overclock you can get out of them.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All very well but...

    ...is it powerful enough to enable Aero on Vista?

  29. Rick Brasche

    wow

    power draw on this card is almost what my entire quad core alienware gaming system (with it's big GTX card) draws now.

    I remember when half a kilowatt for the entire PC was considered extreme.

  30. kain preacher

    Electrician needed

    At this rate you are going to need 20 amp plug @ 208 here state side.

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