Gigabyte's AMD R9 390, R9 380 GPUs Come With Windforce 2X Cooler

Although the AMD R9 300 series GPUs were released more than a week ago, Gigabyte just now sent us information and specs on these new GPUs. We now have the specs for Gigabyte's R9 390 and R9 380 GPUs, both of which utilize Gigabyte's Windforce 2X cooler.

It is clear that Gigabyte has recently spent a lot of time improving its GPU air coolers. The Windforce 2X, which is also featured on Gigabyte's Nvidia GTX 960, utilizes dual 90 mm fans with a unique blade design. Gigabyte claims that these fan blades enhance air flow by 23 percent while also reducing the turbulence caused by the fans.

The fans are also programmed to stop spinning when the GPU dips below a certain temperature. This should be evident by the decreased noise coming from the PC, but Gigabyte went ahead and added some extra LEDs that illuminate when the fans stop spinning.

Below the fans, the cooler has a typical aluminum heat sink with three 6 mm cooper heat pipes running through it. These heatpipes make direct contact with the GPU die. Gigabyte also put a metal back plate to support and cool the back of the card, rounding out the cooling solution.

Gigabyte opted to utilize 6-phase power designs on both GPUs, one phase higher than AMD's reference design for the R9 380. Power phases have a tendency to overheat on high-end hardware, but because they work in unison, having more phases typically helps to avoid overheating and can help the GPU overclock further and last longer as a result.

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Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 390 and R9 380
ChipsetR9 390R9 380
Core Clock1025 MHz990 MHz
Memory8 GB GDDR54 GB GDDR5
Memory Clock6 GHz5.7 GHz
ConnectionsDVI-D/ 3xDP/HDMIDual-Link DVI-I/DVI-D/HDMI/DP
DimensionsN/A42mm x 234mm x 129mm (H x L x W)

The cards are already available for sale from online retailers.

Follow Michael Justin Allen Sexton @LordLao74. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.
  • TechyInAZ
    Looks nice. So how about the windforce X3 cooler?
    Reply
  • salgado18
    I'm so happy that vendors are making the fans stop at low temperatures in most new cards. Now we don't need to pay a premium on an Asus Strix to get the feature.
    Reply
  • Gam3r01
    The real question is how often that 390 will fall into passive level temps.
    Reply
  • AS118
    That feature-list is a bit barebones. No mention of memory bandwidth or the number of shaders and stuff like that? Speed and amount of vram alone doesn't show the whole picture.
    Reply
  • iam2thecrowe
    Looks nice. So how about the windforce X3 cooler?
    yes, i wonder if the 2 fans will be able to cool the 390 properly?
    Reply
  • ykki
    ^ They do look like giant ass fans.....
    Reply
  • Quixit
    Looks nice. So how about the windforce X3 cooler?
    yes, i wonder if the 2 fans will be able to cool the 390 properly?

    Less, bigger fans = better.
    Reply
  • InfernalSurge
    Is the Gigabyte R9 380 G1 Gaming out? It's out of stock on Newegg and NCIX.
    Reply
  • zared619
    Are there any formal reviews out for this card yet? The Gigabyte version is one of the very few versions of the 390 that will fit in my case.
    Reply
  • InfernalSurge
    16193252 said:
    Are there any formal reviews out for this card yet? The Gigabyte version is one of the very few versions of the 390 that will fit in my case.

    Nope, I asked customer support and they said the Gigabyte R9 300 G1 Gaming series will come out in mid-july. I'd keep an eye out this week and order it fast as they said it sells very quickly.
    Reply