AMD's R9 380X Drops Today, Numerous Partner Boards Announced
AMD launched the R7 and R9 300 series cards shortly before E3, replacing most of the 200 series product stack with one notable omission: The R9 280X was left out of the refresh, leaving a big price and performance gap between the R9 380 and the R9 390. The R9 380X is finally here to fill that gap, and several partners have announced, and even released, their own versions of this highly anticipated graphics card.
AMD's R9 380X is built on the Tonga core, and it is the first GPU from AMD to finally make use of the core in uncut form. The company is targeting gamers looking to upgrade from mid-range graphics cards from 2012-2013 such as the GTX 660 and 760 cards from Nvidia or AMD's own 7850 and R9 270X cards. AMD is positioning the R9 380X as an ideal solution for 1080p and 1440p gaming. For detailed information about the new GPU, check out our in-depth review.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Radeon R9 380X |
|---|---|
| Compute Units | 32 |
| Engine Clock | 970 MHz |
| Texture Units | 128 |
| ROPs | 32 |
| Memory Configuration | 4 GB GDDR5 |
| Memory Interface | 256-bit |
| Typical Board Power | 190W |
| PCIe Standard | PCIe 3.0 |
| API Support | Direct X 12, Vulkan, Mantle |
| FreeSync Support | Yes |
| Virtual Super Resolution (VSR) | Yes |
| Frame Rate Target Control (FRTC) | Yes |
AMD's reference specifications for the R9 380X mirror the base specs of the R9 380 but with four additional Compute Units (256 additional stream processors). AMD calls for GPU engine clock speeds up to 970 MHz and memory bandwidth of 182.4 GB/s, although partners are free to overclock the GPU and memory as they see fit, and it seems each of the announced R9 380X boards take advantage of that.
AMD announced seven different vendors will be selling R9 380X based graphics cards, and six of those companies sell to the U.S. market. Asus, Power Color, XFX and Sapphire have announced and launched their renditions of the card, and each company is offering them with varying clock speeds and features. Gigabyte and HIS have cards coming too, according to AMD, but we haven't received any details about their specifications. VTX3D is also making a 380X, but the company doesn't have a presence in North America. Each of the announced R9 380X cards features the custom cooling solution from their respective board partner.
| Board Partner | GPU Model | Computer Engine Clock Speed | Memory Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Row 0 - Cell 1 | Row 0 - Cell 2 | Row 0 - Cell 3 |
| XFX | Radeon R9 380X DD XXX OC 990 MHz 4 GB DDR5 | 990 MHz | 5700 MHz |
| XFX | Radeon R9 380X DD BLACK EDITION OC 1030 MHz 4 GB DDR5 | 1030 MHz | 5800 MHz |
| Row 3 - Cell 0 | Row 3 - Cell 1 | Row 3 - Cell 2 | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
| Asus | Strix-R9-380X-OC4G-Gaming | 1030 MHz / 1050 MHz OC Mode | 5700 MHz |
| Asus | Strix-R9-380X-4G-Gaming | ? | 5700 MHz |
| Row 6 - Cell 0 | Row 6 - Cell 1 | Row 6 - Cell 2 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
| Power Color | PCS+ R9 380X MYST. EDITION | 1020 MHz | 5900 MHz |
| Row 8 - Cell 0 | Row 8 - Cell 1 | Row 8 - Cell 2 | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
| Sapphire | Nitro R9 380X 4G D5 | 1040 MHz | 6000 MHz |
| Row 10 - Cell 0 | Row 10 - Cell 1 | Row 10 - Cell 2 | Row 10 - Cell 3 |
| Gigabyte | R9 380X Gaming 4GD | ? | ? |
| Row 12 - Cell 0 | Row 12 - Cell 1 | Row 12 - Cell 2 | Row 12 - Cell 3 |
| HIS | R9 380X IceQ X2 | ? | ? |
AMD's R9 380X launched today, and some of the partner cards are available today. The suggested retail price for each one varies somewhat, but prices start at $239.99.
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Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.
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bgunner I'd like to see the benchmarks between the Tahiti and this version of the Tonga chip. Is it worth upgrading or waiting? Only the head to head comparisons will tell the true story. With the HD7970's and 280X's still hold value or go to the wayside like so many predecessors before them.Reply -
Patrick_Bateman I do not believe that the r9 380x is the first uncut Tonga GPU from AMD. Correct me if I am wrong, but the 2015 iMac 27-inch 5k display has a Radeon R9 M395X, which is a full fledged Tonga Core (2048 cores).Reply -
JackNaylorPE Well they made a liar outta me for 4 days ... been telling everyone the 15thReply
http://hothardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-r9-380x-review?page=4
No 380- guys really ?
Picks up 1 fps in W3 at 1440p over the 380 .... other titles do better
More here:
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_380x_4gb_review,9.html -
boenklon2 i am planning to upgrade my Video Card.Reply
currently i am using R9 270X...is this worth to upgrade to this card?
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Dino Dubravcevic I wonder if they are gonna release a card with 384bit memory bus, to fill in the gap between this and 390/x? ... I still own dualx vaporx Svaporxxr9 280x and for now not planning an upgrade, cuz it serves me so nicely.Reply
What do you guys think? -
turkey3_scratch I doubt they will. If AMD was smart, they would have released a card in the $260 price area that has performance just behind the 390.Reply -
Dino Dubravcevic I don't know how much perfomance impact has increasing amount of ram sacrificing memory bus. Im pretty sure games still fly :) I like my 3G and 384bits bus ... hm are there any indications if they will launch something like 375 or 385 line like last year?Reply -
bgunner They are starting to go to the 4096 bit bus with the lower clock speeds (to allow high capacity Ram on cards) so the chances are anything "newer" designed will have this style of memory versus the 384bit 256 and 128 bit buses.Reply