Monday, May 5th 2014

PowerColor Readies Air-Cooled Radeon R9 295X2 Devil13

by
btarunr
 Discuss (17 Comments)
While AMD may have scored one up over NVIDIA by making its 500-Watt dual-GPU graphics card, the Radeon R9 295X2, a 2-slot thick product that draws power from just two 8-pin PCIe power connectors, AMD's implementation also lugs along a radiator and coolant tubing that not everyone may find room in their cases for. Some enthusiasts may simply not trust factory-fitted water cooling solutions. For such people and more, who'd like to keep their builds "dry," PowerColor is coming up with the first truly non-reference design R9 295X2, the Devil13.

Pictured below, the R9 295X2 Devil13 from PowerColor features a completely custom-design PCB that is said to feature a meatier VRM than the one you get on reference design boards; which draws power from 4 (that's right, four) 8-pin PCIe power connectors. The PCB appears taller but just as long as the reference one, and features a back-plate that doubles up as structural reinforcement. The cooler is an interesting piece of engineering. It appears to feature two independent aluminium fin heatsinks, each over one of the two GPUs, and a base-plate heatsink to cool the memory, VRM, and bridge chip. The contraption is then ventilated by three 100 mm fans that appear to feature lateral+axial hybrid air-flow blades, on their impellers. PowerColor could launch the R9 295X2 Devil13 at Computex 2014, if not sooner.
Source: Hardware.info

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17 Comments on PowerColor Readies Air-Cooled Radeon R9 295X2 Devil13

#1
Assimilator
At least you won't have to worry about your PSU wires melting with this card, as it complies with the ATX spec. But I'm pretty sure it'll weigh enough to kill someone with...
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#2
xvi
AssimilatorAt least you won't have to worry about your PSU wires melting with this card, as it complies with the ATX spec. But I'm pretty sure it'll weigh enough to kill someone with...
+1. As soon as it heats up, and I'm sure it will, all that weight is probably going to make the card want to sag. Needs a brace.
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#3
Casecutter
xviNeeds a brace.
Yea, it would but not any different than the coming GTX TITAN-Z will probably like have the support also...
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#4
cokker
4 PCI-E 8 pin power connectors?!
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#5
WithoutWeakness
cokker4 PCI-E 8 pin power connectors?!
That's the setup that should be done according to the PCIe spec for a 500W card. Each PCIe 8-pin plug provides 150W. The PCIe slot itself can provide up to 75W so you really only need 3 plugs and the slot (3x150 + 75 = 525). I'll bet they added the 4th connector to prevent the slot and plugs from being overloaded when overclocking.
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#6
GhostRyder
Holy ****, I had not seen this yet. Im drooling over those 4 PCI-E connectors and the fact I could take that card to such a height. I would love to see what the pricing will be and see if there are waterblocks for it that also come with a 2 slot adapter.
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#7
MakeDeluxe
Better be a darn good cooler to keep that beast under control
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#8
Assimilator
WithoutWeaknessThat's the setup that should be done according to the PCIe spec for a 500W card. Each PCIe 8-pin plug provides 150W. The PCIe slot itself can provide up to 75W so you really only need 3 plugs and the slot (3x150 + 75 = 525). I'll bet they added the 4th connector to prevent the slot and plugs from being overloaded when overclocking.
According to W1zzard's review, this card draws 646W at maximum load, so technically you do need quad 8-pin connectors.
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#9
WithoutWeakness
AssimilatorAccording to W1zzard's review, this card draws 646W at maximum load, so technically you do need quad 8-pin connectors.
Jesus, I thought AMD was pushing the limits by pulling 500W from 2 plugs. 646W is absurd. If it weren't for the $1500 price tag we'd be hearing horror stories about how the R9 295X2 was a PSU killer from all the people who would try to run it on cheapo power supplies. Maybe that was their plan: price it so high that the only people that can afford it will also be purchasing an overkill PSU to match. Not a bad plan when you think about it.
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#10
GhostRyder
WithoutWeaknessJesus, I thought AMD was pushing the limits by pulling 500W from 2 plugs. 646W is absurd. If it weren't for the $1500 price tag we'd be hearing horror stories about how the R9 295X2 was a PSU killer from all the people who would try to run it on cheapo power supplies. Maybe that was their plan: price it so high that the only people that can afford it will also be purchasing an overkill PSU to match. Not a bad plan when you think about it.
I think LinusTechTips put it best by saying it was a True Enthusiast Graphics card that was not designed for everyone. You have to do your research and make sure you can run it properly or you may run into problems.
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#11
Trompochi
Holy... FREAKIN'... batman!!! I'd love to see a review of this card. (not that I can buy one anyway :P)
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#12
Hilux SSRG
Glad PC chucked the stock hybrid solution.
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#13
WithoutWeakness
GhostRyderI think LinusTechTips put it best by saying it was a True Enthusiast Graphics card that was not designed for everyone. You have to do your research and make sure you can run it properly or you may run into problems.
Oh, I fully understand that. Anyone who truly cares about their PC will be doing the proper research to ensure their hardware is quality and that their components work properly together. I'm just saying that there are folks out there who just buy whatever the best marketing team can sell them and don't fully research their decisions. They might see "fastest graphics card in the world" and go "that's the card for me" and purchase it without making sure that their PSU is up to the job. However when the card is priced at $1500 it dramatically reduces the number of people who would be making that sort of uneducated impulse purchase to near-zero.
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#14
Prima.Vera
You have to admit, the card looks rather good.
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#15
jihadjoe
WithoutWeaknessJesus, I thought AMD was pushing the limits by pulling 500W from 2 plugs. 646W is absurd.
Since it uses 4 8-pin power connectors this Devil13 card is actually much safer electrically than a reference 295X2.
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#16
WithoutWeakness
jihadjoeSince it uses 4 8-pin power connectors this Devil13 card is actually much safer electrically than a reference 295X2.
I was referring to Assimilator's link to the R9 295X2 reviewthat showed 646W maximum power draw. That's for the stock R9 295X2 with the reference cooler and only 2 PCIe plugs. This card should be capable of that and more and should still stay within PCIe spec.
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#17
Disparia
Awesome, and a handful of those new Z97 boards are triple triple-slot ready.
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