The AMD Radeon R9 295X2 is a single card that uses two Radeon R9 290X graphics processors (GPUs) in tandem to provide astonishingly high graphics performance. The R9 295X2 has 8GB of graphics memory in total, but this is shared between the two GPUs, with each having access to 4,096MB. Even so, 4,096MB is an impressive amount of graphics memory for a single GPU card, so having that amount available for each GPU is a boon. The memory runs at 1,250MHz, which isn’t particularly fast, but isn’t slow either, and we certainly had no complaints.
AMD Radeon R9 295X2 side
As the card squeezes so many high-end components into such a small area it gets very hot, and the R9 295X2 uses liquid cooling to combat this heat. This means that if you buy the R9 295X2 you’ll have to make sure you can accommodate the card’s external radiator and fan, as well as the card itself, in your case. The liquid cooler is audible but fairly quiet.
To make use of the two GPUs in the R9 295X2 you must enable CrossFire mode, but this is no more difficult than enabling the option in AMD Catalyst Control Centre, the driver-cum-setup utility for all AMD Radeon graphics cards.