Powercolor Brings Out Four AMD R9 300 GPUs

Following the release of the AMD Radeon R9 300 series of GPUs, Powercolor has released four new graphics cards geared for overclocking and high performance.

Powercolor released its flagship today, the PCS+ AMD Radeon R9 390X, which features a whopping 2816 stream processors clocked at 1060 MHz. Also released is the marginally slower PCS+ R9 390, which features a slightly reduced core count of 2560 stream processors clocked at 1010 MHz. Both of these GPUs contain 8 GB of GDDR5, connected to the GPU over a 512-bit memory interface, and operating at an effective clock speed of 6000 MHz.

Powercolor focused on improving efficiency and overclocking potential with these cards and opted to utilize a digital PWM in conjunction with an 8 phase (6+1+1) power design. These changes allow for improved power regulation that can reduce overall power consumption, in addition to performing better when overvolting and overclocking.

To further improve overclocking ability, the company utilizes a technology it calls PowlRstage, which is designed to increase power by 3-13 percent, which can help prevent an overclock from failing as a result of insufficient power.

Both GPUs utilize the same thermal design, which consists of an anodized backplate that helps cool and protect components, and a triple fan cooler. The GPU possesses Powercolor's Mute Fan technology, which slows the fans down and reduces noise when temperatures drop below 60 degrees Celsius. Beneath the fans sits a pure copper GPU block, connected to a nickel plated aluminum heat sink by three 6 mm and one 8 mm heat pipes.

The PCS+ AMD Radeon R9 380 features 1792 stream processors running at 980 MHz, connected to 4 GB of GDDR5 clocked at 5900 MHz by a 256 bit-wide memory bus. The last card of the bunch is the PCS+ AMD Radeon R7 370, containing 1024 stream processors clocked at 985 MHz, paired to 2 GB of GDDR5 operating at 5700 MHz by a 256-bit bus.

Both of these graphics cards feature similar power and cooling designs. Both adopt Ferrite Conducting Power (FCP) and multi-phase board designs to provide stable and efficient power regulation, in addition to utilizing PowerPAK SO-8, which is designed to help reduce voltage lost during conduction.

Powercolor opted for similar dual fan coolers, though the R7 370 utilizes 90 mm fans as opposed to the 80 mm fans on the R9 380, and the cards possess the same Mute Fan technology as the PCS+ R9 380(x). Under the fans of the PCS+ R9 380 sits a nickel-plated aluminum heat sink connected to the GPU block by two 8 mm and one 6 mm heat pipes.

The PCS+ R7 370 utilizes a slightly different thermal solution, however, instead using two U-shaped heatpipes that directly touch the GPU core. Powercolor claimed this method increases transfer rate by 20 percent compared to traditional methods.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
ModelCore Speed Memory SpeedMemoryMemory InterfaceDirectxCrossFireOutput
PCS+ R9 390X1060 MHz6000 MHz8 GB GDDR5512-bit12YesDL DVI-D/DL DVI-D/HDMI/DP
PCS+ R9 3901010 MHz6000 MHz8 GB GDDR5512-bit12YesDL DVI-D/DL DVI-D/HDMI/DP
PCS+ R9 380980 MHz5900 MHz4 GB GDDR5256-bit12YesDL DVI-I/DL DVI-D/HDMI/DP
PCS+ R7 370985 MHz5700 MHz2 GB GDDR5256-bit12YesDL DVI-I/DL DVI-D/HDMI/DP

All of these GPUs should be available from numerous online retailers starting today.

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.
  • redgarl
    The PCS+ is a great card. I have the 290x. It is easily the best air cooler. Can be a bit noisy in CF, but this is expected from a 2 and a half slot card.
    Reply
  • Creme
    I wonder if the fact that the 360X, 370X and 380X weren't already released because Nvidia has nothing in that performance segment, or if it's easier to manage having fewer cards on the market.

    R7 360 = GTX 750
    R7 370 > GTX 750 Ti
    R9 380 => GTX 960

    The 370 seems like a good choice for a 750 Ti beater, as opposed to having a "just equivalent" 360X. Maybe now AMD only releases a X version if they truly feel the need.
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    "Powercolor released its flagship today, the PCS+ AMD Radeon R9 390X, which features a whopping 2816 stream processors"

    this is a BLATANT advertisement. no shame. no shame at all. everyone knows these are rebadged. whopping? really? it's been whopping for quite a while now.
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    "Powercolor released its flagship today, the PCS+ AMD Radeon R9 390X, which features a whopping 2816 stream processors"

    this is a BLATANT advertisement. no shame. no shame at all. everyone knows these are rebadged. whopping? really? it's been whopping for quite a while now.
    Reply
  • Larry Litmanen
    I don't think the Fury cards will be better than nVidia cards, here's why.

    The card will go on sale in a few weeks, so it is ready to be benchmarked and all that. If AMD shipped the card to the reviewers like Toms and others and they published that it is better than 980TI that would make people wait for the AMD card and buy it. So by not having the benchmarks AMD is giving up weeks of sales.

    Why would a company pass up on weeks of sales if they have a product that is better, why wouldn't the company do everything possible short of shipping the card?
    Reply
  • IInuyasha74
    "Powercolor released its flagship today, the PCS+ AMD Radeon R9 390X, which features a whopping 2816 stream processors"

    this is a BLATANT advertisement. no shame. no shame at all. everyone knows these are rebadged. whopping? really? it's been whopping for quite a while now.

    I am not advertising any of these cards in this article. I never said that these weren't rebadged cards. Just because they are essentially the same as the R9 200 series cards, doesn't make 2816 cores go from being a lot to being a little. On Tom's Hardware yesterday we also published articles on the R9 300 series of GPUs from Asus, MSI, and Sapphire too. I personally wrote three of these. If you believe I am advertising the Powercolor GPUs, please see my other articles. I don't advertise any GPU over another. These are not reviews, and as such I have no way of knowing which of these GPUs is the best one.
    Reply
  • mamasan2000
    "whopping 2816 stream processors"

    Which the 290x has had for 2-3 years now. It's old tech. You imply it's something new.
    It's like saying a GPU has a whopping 2 Gb of VRAM.
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    "Powercolor released its flagship today, the PCS+ AMD Radeon R9 390X, which features a whopping 2816 stream processors"

    this is a BLATANT advertisement. no shame. no shame at all. everyone knows these are rebadged. whopping? really? it's been whopping for quite a while now.

    I am not advertising any of these cards in this article. I never said that these weren't rebadged cards. Just because they are essentially the same as the R9 200 series cards, doesn't make 2816 cores go from being a lot to being a little. On Tom's Hardware yesterday we also published articles on the R9 300 series of GPUs from Asus, MSI, and Sapphire too. I personally wrote three of these. If you believe I am advertising the Powercolor GPUs, please see my other articles. I don't advertise any GPU over another. These are not reviews, and as such I have no way of knowing which of these GPUs is the best one.
    I don't think the Fury cards will be better than nVidia cards, here's why.

    The card will go on sale in a few weeks, so it is ready to be benchmarked and all that. If AMD shipped the card to the reviewers like Toms and others and they published that it is better than 980TI that would make people wait for the AMD card and buy it. So by not having the benchmarks AMD is giving up weeks of sales.

    Why would a company pass up on weeks of sales if they have a product that is better, why wouldn't the company do everything possible short of shipping the card?
    i've been buying AMD cards exclusively since i started pc gaming 14 years ago, but i've never considered myself a fanboy. i've considered buying nvidia but i just hate the community that supports them and their business tactics.

    That being said, if reviews are not released by the time the fury x is out, it is guaranteed to still sell out. they've already activated their hype machine and their possibly flawed internal benchmarks which fanboys will of course eat up. and there are plenty of AMD fanboys.

    ALSO, an interesting fact: AMD is withholding review units from organizations that have a history of bashing their image, especially over the past few months. I guess this is their way of trying to introduce fair reviews, but this will also skew it and make it TOO positive. i guess being honest just isn't working for them anymore, especially when team green is playing dirty themselves.
    Reply
  • slair76116
    "whopping 2816 stream processors" is Misleading, better to write things as is from a perspective based on reality on the day of writing.

    Just for future reviews...

    Reply