Final words and conclusion

Final words and conclusion

I've already mentioned in the regular Radeon R9 380 release that the Tonga slash Antigua GPUs have been a bit underestimated. However, one of my problems with the 380 was the fact that it was launched as a 2GB product, only later on have we seen some 4GB models. For the Radeon 380X AMD did it right, the product does launch with an amount of graphics memory that is just right. Tonga/Antigua also is a fairly proper DirectX 12 product right from the get-go and has that little extra bite thanks to an increased number of shader processors (2048). This card at say 260 USD/EURO makes quite a lot of sense right now. It is a capable 2560x1440 resolution gaming graphics card, it really makes for a truly excellent 1080P card obviously as well. Especially in that monitor resolution the card makes so much sense. But granted, even at WQHD (2560x1440) most games run pretty good. The product as such performs well for the money and is fighting quite well with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 960 almost reaching 970 levels. Another benefit is that at least the most elementary and arbitrary DirectX 12 Feature levels are supported in hardware. And yeah again, with a 4GB model WHQD at 2560x1440 remains possible if you do not over-configure your games too heavily on image quality settings. 

Overall

When you look at the Radeon R9 380X overall, performance, Eyefinity features, PCIe gen 3 compatibility and all other stuff then we can only conclude that, though we like these cards, they belong in the mainstream to even a bit of the high-end (but certainly not enthusiast) graphics card arena. Overall we think the R9 380X remains to be a an excellent Full HD gaming card and a pretty decent WQHD alternative. On very harsh on the GPU titles however you'll find yourself un-ticking graphics quality options pretty fast to gain on framerate performance, but that is the trade-off and nothing to be ashamed about with a 260 EURO product.

Cooling and Noise levels

The product's cooling is really good. Now, we did not receive a reference product, so instead we received the custom edition from PowerColor with their latest revision cooler. You can expect the graphics core running at roughly 60 Degrees C under heavy GPU load in a proper ventilated PC with this specific model. Directly related to the cooling are the noise levels, we have no complaints here whatsoever. This is a silent card.

Power Consumption 

The board is rated by us at roughly 190~200 Watts TDP, that means when you completely stress it, that's the power consumption. Our measurements showed that the board TDP is indeed roughly in that Wattage region. This is reasonable for this kind of performance especially when you take into account that the product is factory overclocked for you (albeit a tiny bit) and well... the fact that it is still a 28nm fab really.

Overclocking

Overclocking then, we see average results with our board, we could set the card stable at 1140 MHz coming from 1020 MHz and 970 MHz for the reference clock. The product as it is right now lacks voltage control. The memory will reach anywhere from 6.0~6.6 Gbps. Overall these are satisfying results. The card is fitted with Elpida GDDR5 RAM ICs.
 

Final Words

PowerColor offers a fun card with their PCS+ MYST Edition of the Radeon R9 380X. Originally when the Radeon R9 285 was released the product was pretty much blocked and positioned in-between two rather similar AMD products with more memory, and did not make any sense. The 380 made way more sense in terms of price and performance, but we disliked the limited 2GB frame-buffer. The 380X as such is the final evolution of this mainstream to high-end positioned graphics card. With the 380X you get to use a proper 4 GB graphics memory and you'll have a fully enabled GPU with 2048 active shader processors. And such features combined make a lot of sense. You will have a very good 1080P card running with more than decent enough performance in the WQHD (2560x1440) monitor domain. Overall for roughly 250/260 USD/EURO the Radeon R9 380X does offer good value for money. The factory tweaked and customized product will likely be a tenner more expensive though, but it remains very reasonable. The card as tested (factory tweaked and cooled) has a good design, it is factory overclocked a bit, pretty silent and looks nice in any DIY PC build. For the money we think the 380X is a lovely offering, and the PowerColor version of it as such comes recommended.

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