Introduction
MENU |
|---|
| Introduction, features & showcase |
| Testing Methods |
| 1080P Graphics Performance |
| 4K Graphics Performance |
| Power Consumption & Overclocking |
| Conclusion |
Specifications and Features
| Sapphire R9 390X Nitro |
Sapphire R9 390 Nitro
|
AMD R9 290X | AMD R9 290 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Price (Euro) 27/06/16 |
299 | 353 | N/A | N/A |
| GPU | Grenada | Grenada | Hawaii | Hawaii |
| CUDA Cores | 2816 | 2560 | 2816 | 2560 |
| Clock Speed (MHz) | 1080 | 1040 | 1000 | 947 |
| Memory Interface Width | 512-bit | 512-bit | 512-bit | 512-bit |
| Memory Interface | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Memory Clock (MHz) | 6000 | 6000 | 5000 | 5000 |
| Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) | 384 | 384 | 384 | 384 |
| Typical Board Power (W) | 275 | 275 | 275 | 275 |
| Memory GDDR5 (MB) | 8192 | 8192 | 4096 | 4096 |
SAPPHIRE R9 390(X) Nitro
As you can see is the R9 390(X) almost identical, except for the higher engine and memory clock speeds and additional VRAM, to the R9 290(X) and could be described as a rebrand from the older Hawaii series. SAPPHIRE's Nitro edition delivers a tweaked 390(X) straight out to box including 8GB of VRAM and a very nice looking thermal backplate. The Tri-X cooling design keeps everything cool under the hood. Intelligent fan control and two ball bearings on the fan spindles keep the noise down to an exceptable level. Besides, it also ensures a long life span of the fan design and intends to keep dust out. The 10mm heatpipe design is made to handle over 300W of GPU power. AMD's R9 390(X) offers support to all newest AMD features, like AMD LiquidVR, AMD's FreeSync Technology (cancelling out all stutters and screen tearing), DirectX 12, Eyefinity and of course the possibility to put two of them in Crossfire. SAPPHIRE has its own very effective overclocking tool which you can use to make custom fan profiles and give your card an even greater boost in performance.
Now, let's have a look at the packaging:
Clean package with a introduction to the product registration, installationguide, note from manufacturer, driver CD and an HDMI cable. Unlike other brands, SAPPHIRE does not wrap their videocards in a anti-static plastic bag.
How SAPPHIRE describes their Nitro Gaming series graphics cards online:
THE NEW SAPPHIRE NITRO SERIES IS AN EVOLUTION OF OUR MARKET-LEADING, AWARD-WINNING, HIGH-END GRAPHICS CARD TECHNOLOGY – NOW MADE ACCESSIBLE FOR THE PC GAMER.
Designed from the ground up, we’ve crammed in everything you need (and left out everything you don't) to maximize the gaming experience for your budget. The SAPPHIRE NITRO series boasts a range of features previously reserved for high-end cards, including long-life capacitors and award-winning Black Diamond Chokes, as well as our award-winning cooling solutions. Its sleek, elegant contours have been designed to suit any build. And the latest graphics architecture from AMD ensures fast, reliable gaming, performance tuned for any level of gamer.
So whatever kind of gamer you are, the SAPPHIRE NITRO series offers you the maximum gaming experience for your budget.
Product Showcase
SAPPHIRE has never been a fan of the black/red color sheme and always used simple color shemes with mainly the darker grey color and eventually an addition with some orange or blue. The Nitro series use a stylisch variety of grey in the cooler design with some shiny edges which makes it look a little more classy and elegant. Even with all the fancy edges and styling, the cooler stays pretty bulky. Anyway, even by looking at the product, you can assume the quality of the cooler design to be quite solid. The backplate looks awesome and gives it an even more prestigious appearance. By the looks of it, we have the feeling we can expect alot from this firmly designed card in terms of thermal efficiency.
