Summary

Average FPS – R9-295×2 Wins!

On average FPS the R9-295×2 is a clear winner as we expected.  While it isn’t pretty it has brute force on it’s side.  This is the equivalent of a Dodge Charger Hellcat – far too much power and it can’t always put it down on the road.  In 15/16 test cases though it produced better frame rates and was on average 28% ahead of the Fury X.

Frame Times – R9-295×2 Wins!

Surprisingly the R9-295×2 wins on frame times too although the margin is far less.  The R9-295×2 had better frame times in 11/16 tests, and on average did 18% better.

However the reader must know that there is more to this comparison than simply performance.  While the 295×2 dominated in all aspects of performance it does use a lot more power.  In addition it is less compatible in terms of power supply choice and case choice.  We are also comparing the price of a new Fury X with accompanying warranty vs a used R9-295×2 with, at best, a shorter warranty.

Normally we would also address overclocking – but the Fury has very little overclocking room despite recent updates.  The R9-295×2 on the other can be overclocked decently but the stock cooler can’t really handle it and will throttle back clocks unless you upgrade to a real water block.

In terms of noise with the stock cooler, unsurprisingly the Fury X wins here.  The lower power of the Fury X is suited to the 120 radiator and so the fan can be run quietly.  The R9-295×2 while not as loud as the reference R9-290X cards is still louder under load.

Features – Fury X Wins

Conclusion

The R9-295×2 is still a performance beast and an impressive engineering achievement.  However the Fury X has the smaller, quieter, sexier package with the latest technology.  While in general I advise users to get the most powerful graphics card that they can afford in order to avoid any troublesome issues with CFX/SLI the truth is that the driver problems are not bad enough to back up that decision.

So clearly the R9-295×2 wins the performance crown, and therefore this challenge – but which GPU would I personally buy?  Having owned both of these GPUs I would still pick Fury X over the R9-295×2 simply because the 18% lead in frame times isn’t enough for me to lose out on all the other areas where the Fury X improves on the R9-295×2.