AMD teases upcoming dual-GPU Hawaii graphics card

[Scorpus]

It appears AMD is gearing up to launch a new high-end graphics card in the near future, sending out teasers to some members of the media this week. The "Top Secret" teaser envelopes contained a picture depicting two copies of the recipient, with a caption below saying "Wouldn't you agree that two is better than one?". The back of the image had the Twitter hashtag #2betterthan1.

The marketing campaign by AMD's PR department appears to be referring to a new dual-GPU graphics card. We've already seen the Radeon HD 7990 with two Tahiti dies on-board, so it makes sense that the next dual-GPU card would have two Hawaii dies.

VR-Zone reports this new graphics card will be called the Radeon R9 295 x2 and will feature two Hawaii XT dies, the very same GPUs used on the Radeon R9 290X. Other rumored specifications include 8 GB of memory, a cooler that can be used for either air or water cooling, and a two 8-pin PCIe power port requirement.

There's no word on exactly when AMD's new dual-GPU graphics card will be released, but some rumors point to April as a likely launch frame. AMD will have a presence at next week's Game Developer's Conference, where the future of Mantle and DirectX 12 will be detailed, but it's unlikely a hardware announcement will be made then.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/55996-amd-teases-upcoming-dual-gpu-hawaii-graphics-card.html

 

[Kibaruk]

Well... If they'd actually put a picture of I don't know... Megan Fox or whoever is hot right now yeah two would be awesome, a fat guy... not that much (Not that I'm thin or anything... but I wouldn't want to see my picture there either).

 

[Steve]

If the past four attempts are anything to go by I would tend to disagree but hey maybe fifth times the charm.

The Radeon HD 7970 had a thermal design power rating of 250w and the 7990 ran hot as hell, but then it was rated for a PSU frying 375watts. The Radeon R9 290X has a TDP rating of almost 300 watts and single GPU cards have been subjected to throttling down due to excessive heat so how the hell will two on the same card work out?

Finally at current prices it has to cost at least $1300 which should burn a hole in your wallet shortly before it burns a hole in your case door.

But seriously I really want to review one

 

[Boilerhog146]

@ steve, I already have a 45% hearing loss from too many screaming boiler shutdowns ,this won't help.lol .I look forward to hearing your review!

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

A few years back announcements like this would've had me on the edge of my seat but nowadays I find it hard to get excited about dual GPU cards.

 

[GhostRyder]

Can't wait to see this card, im hoping to see a similar yet improved version of the previous cooler on this card.

I actually doubted this card would come out to be honest mostly because the high power usage of the Hawaii GPU. But this could be interesting to see how well it does.

 

[Guest]

Not surprising from a company that released a 220W TDP processor. That was +50% above the previous record if I recall.
So don't be shocked if they will release a 450W (peak 600W) x2 GPU considering the ~400W (peak 550W) 7990.
Its crazy. Where are the days of "Cool & Quiet"???

 

[wastedkill]

If the past four attempts are anything to go by I would tend to disagree but hey maybe fifth times the charm.

The Radeon HD 7970 had a thermal design power rating of 250w and the 7990 ran hot as hell, but then it was rated for a PSU frying 375watts. The Radeon R9 290X has a TDP rating of almost 300 watts and single GPU cards have been subjected to throttling down due to excessive heat so how the hell will two on the same card work out?

Finally at current prices it has to cost at least $1300 which should burn a hole in your wallet shortly before it burns a hole in your case door.

But seriously I really want to review one

Ah so it works out the same as a cooker but provides more heat and uses less electricity and no gas... I say its a win...

 

[GhostRyder]

Please let them call it Mt. Vesuvius, I want it to be named after that early joke that people made. It would be a good laugh and a cool name.

BTW, if they make a Hybrid air or Water choice cooler, that would be pretty cool in my book.

 

[GeforcerFX]

If the past four attempts are anything to go by I would tend to disagree but hey maybe fifth times the charm.

The Radeon HD 7970 had a thermal design power rating of 250w and the 7990 ran hot as hell, but then it was rated for a PSU frying 375watts. The Radeon R9 290X has a TDP rating of almost 300 watts and single GPU cards have been subjected to throttling down due to excessive heat so how the hell will two on the same card work out?

Finally at current prices it has to cost at least $1300 which should burn a hole in your wallet shortly before it burns a hole in your case door.

But seriously I really want to review one

I am still running Dual 3870 X2's I got back in 2009 in my AMD rig, Though there TDP was high for the time its nothing compared to what we deal with on these new dual cards. More then anything it made me lose faith in CFX and SLI, the cards are so worthless now I figure why bother selling them, but when Quad CFX does work (say like BF4) then the performance is nice, the noise not so much.

 

[TomSEA]

Think I'm more interested in seeing what nVidia will show up with to counter this.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Really can't see how they are going to control power consumption and cool this

 

[Guest]

The last interesting dual setup was from 3dfx

 

[dividebyzero]

Think I'm more interested in seeing what nVidia will show up with to counter this.

The inevitable Nvidia response has been doing the rumour mill for a while.
As for the dual Hawaii...well, that is going to either a heavily downclocked affair, or Steve's review suite will now include a snazzy new suit

If we've learned anything from history...
It will launch with half baked beta drivers
It will launch at the same time as at least one AAA title, and there will be no initial CrossfireX support
It will be on permanent "auto nofify / out of stock" status until it hits EOL.

 

[Guest]

It's called watercooling.

Extreme power goes with extreme cooling.

 

[misor]

Please let them call it Mt. Vesuvius, I want it to be named after that early joke that people made. It would be a good laugh and a cool name.

BTW, if they make a Hybrid air or Water choice cooler, that would be pretty cool in my book.

previous asus ares editions, pfff. how about mercury edition?

 

[dividebyzero]

previous asus ares editions, pfff. how about mercury edition?

Given the likely heat production, maybe it should be called the Ukobach edition.

 

[misor]

Given the likely heat production, maybe it should be called the Ukobach edition.

I don't know which to describe the AMD product, "Demon of an inferior order" or "officer in charge of the oil in the infernal boilers". either description is not good.

 

[dividebyzero]

I don't know which to describe the AMD product, "Demon of an inferior order" or "officer in charge of the oil in the infernal boilers". either description is not good.

I'd go with the boiler reference since the card is supposed to ship with an AIO liquid cooler.

 

[GhostRyder]

Let's just hope AMD's new card does not end up like this card.

Hmm, who made this card I can't seem to remember who made this dual gpu card

 

[Boilerhog146]

@ GR link does not work,for me anyway.
@ DBZ ,I like the boiler reference.... build more Boilers please. now if this could only generate steam.in retrospect I have a pair of 7950 GX2, a pair of 9800 GX2, a pair of 3870X2 and a pair of 4870X2. in my collection been using using single gpu in sli or crossfire for some time.if they can cool the gpus I may ,get a pair of one or the other when the time comes,just waiting for the reviews.mining coins they will need some awesome cooling ,my buddy has cooked 3 R9 290x so far.

 

[dividebyzero]

Let's just hope AMD's new card does not end up like this card.
Hmm, who made this card I can't seem to remember who made this dual gpu card

Given the number of threads popping(!) up concerning Tahiti based cards catching fire and/or exploding (along with 290/290X's failing under prolonged mining), I'd take care to avoid pointing fingers too avidly. It's well known that certain models have issues - and you can put the reference GTX 570 into the same basket as the 7950/7970, GTX 590, and most of the high clock RV770-based reference cards.
Gigabyte HD 7950

General issue with Asus DC2 version of the same card...
Another Gigabyte...

 

[Steve]

Given the number of threads popping(!) up concerning Tahiti based cards catching fire and/or exploding (along with 290/290X's failing under prolonged mining), I'd take care to avoid pointing fingers too avidly. It's well known that certain models have issues - and you can put the reference GTX 570 into the same basket as the 7950/7970, GTX 590, and most of the high clock RV770-based reference cards.

It's well known that mining is one of the most dangerous industry's for workers so this doesn't surprise me at all.

 

[GhostRyder]

Given the number of threads popping(!) up concerning Tahiti based cards catching fire and/or exploding (along with 290/290X's failing under prolonged mining), I'd take care to avoid pointing fingers too avidly. It's well known that certain models have issues - and you can put the reference GTX 570 into the same basket as the 7950/7970, GTX 590, and most of the high clock RV770-based reference cards.

Cards are failing under prolonged mining...Well yea I mean did you expect anything less, it does not matter what company the cards are from cards failing from mining was bound to happen. I mean your running a card at 100% stress levels 24 hours a day for weeks-months on end, no card is designed to handle that except on the professional end of things and even then they would have the same trouble.

Im only pointing out a fact, and either way Hawaii's crossfire is more than stable so unless there is some royal ****-up with crossfire over PCIE with dual GPU cards there should not be problems with drivers. I'm more concerned the power limiters of the cards and stuff than driver support (Though I will not be buying these cards since I already own 3 290X cards so I could not care less lol).

Who knows, when it comes more into the light we can make all our judgement's then since the rumor and guess seems to be an AIO cooler.

 

[Guest]

Probably going to be an awesome graphics card! Probably among the best out there!

Too bad the Catalyst Control Center/Radeon Drivers suck so bad that they basically cause you to never be able to use any of that awesome power...