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Budget Friendly 4GB Radeon R9 390 cards inbound
When AMD released the Radeon R9 390 and 390X they launches the models solely with 8GB of graphics memory. Probably a choice that they wanted to make a bigger difference compared to the 290 and 290X with 4 gigs. The extra 4 gigs can be argued whether or not it is usable, however it does add cost to the final product.
In a market where every dollar, euro (or whatever you currency is) matters it seems that soon you can purchase 4GB models of the 390 (not 390X). Opposed to your 290 you would still be looking at an incremental performance increase of, well lets say 10% here thanks to a bump in core and memory frequency. Obviously the cut down in graphics memory and thus pricing is not just to make a more budget friendly product, it is re-positioning a product against the still very popular GeForce GTX 970.
From the looks of it, three 4GB 390 models already have been spotted in Asia, from XFX and PowerColor who both have a similar design and packaging as the 8 GB versions, and then there is a new 4GB Sapphire card who plastered a new dual-fan cooler on the product as well.
Below some photos, of which the box shots clearly showing the 4GB versions. Yeah, these puppies are slowly turning into a 290 again :-)
Kaarme
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#5205514 Posted on: 12/15/2015 12:03 AM
Good thing these weren't around mere weeks ago when I bought my 390. It would have meant one more decision to make.
Good thing these weren't around mere weeks ago when I bought my 390. It would have meant one more decision to make.
airbud7
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Senior Member
Posts: 7154
Joined: 2011-07-20
#5205577 Posted on: 12/15/2015 02:29 AM
This won't have significant impact on either performance or price.
GDDR5 chips currently come in the form of 256MB and 512MB chips. However, all GDDR5 chips come in the form of a width of 32 bits. So to keep the same buss width the new 4GB versions will need to have 16 chips, regardless of the storage capacity of the chips.
GDDR5 chips are not cheap, but i seriously doubt the cheaper 256MB versions will have a significant impact on the price of the entire product.
For a Newbie that^ makes a lot of sense...hope you hang out here more MMking.....
This won't have significant impact on either performance or price.
GDDR5 chips currently come in the form of 256MB and 512MB chips. However, all GDDR5 chips come in the form of a width of 32 bits. So to keep the same buss width the new 4GB versions will need to have 16 chips, regardless of the storage capacity of the chips.
GDDR5 chips are not cheap, but i seriously doubt the cheaper 256MB versions will have a significant impact on the price of the entire product.
For a Newbie that^ makes a lot of sense...hope you hang out here more MMking.....
Undying
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Posts: 11414
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#5205581 Posted on: 12/15/2015 02:39 AM
What the point? Its not like it will effect the pricing. You can get a R9 390 8GB for 330€. Let's hope they will not pull out 8GB 390 versions and let 390X at 8GB only.
What the point? Its not like it will effect the pricing. You can get a R9 390 8GB for 330€. Let's hope they will not pull out 8GB 390 versions and let 390X at 8GB only.
rl66
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Posts: 2079
Joined: 2007-05-31
#5205603 Posted on: 12/15/2015 05:14 AM
it's not pulling out...
it's adding cheapper card and level down a GPU...
Right now the 390x 8gig is considerated as high end (it make shadows on furry's sales with it's 4gig).
The GTX 970 is less expensive (and enough powerfull for most user with it's 3.5gig + 0.5gig cache... oups 4gig lol), the R9 290 where great competitor against it with 4gig...
So yes it is not a big step, but it is logical, and i think it should have been made last month to be successfull for xmass and winter sales.
What the point? Its not like it will effect the pricing. You can get a R9 390 8GB for 330€. Let's hope they will not pull out 8GB 390 versions and let 390X at 8GB only.
it's not pulling out...
it's adding cheapper card and level down a GPU...
Right now the 390x 8gig is considerated as high end (it make shadows on furry's sales with it's 4gig).
The GTX 970 is less expensive (and enough powerfull for most user with it's 3.5gig + 0.5gig cache... oups 4gig lol), the R9 290 where great competitor against it with 4gig...
So yes it is not a big step, but it is logical, and i think it should have been made last month to be successfull for xmass and winter sales.
rl66
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Posts: 2079
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#5205604 Posted on: 12/15/2015 05:18 AM
This won't have significant impact on either performance or price.
GDDR5 chips currently come in the form of 256MB and 512MB chips. However, all GDDR5 chips come in the form of a width of 32 bits. So to keep the same buss width the new 4GB versions will need to have 16 chips, regardless of the storage capacity of the chips.
GDDR5 chips are not cheap, but i seriously doubt the cheaper 256MB versions will have a significant impact on the price of the entire product.
it's just around 40% less expensive chip to chip...
This won't have significant impact on either performance or price.
GDDR5 chips currently come in the form of 256MB and 512MB chips. However, all GDDR5 chips come in the form of a width of 32 bits. So to keep the same buss width the new 4GB versions will need to have 16 chips, regardless of the storage capacity of the chips.
GDDR5 chips are not cheap, but i seriously doubt the cheaper 256MB versions will have a significant impact on the price of the entire product.
it's just around 40% less expensive chip to chip...
Pixelize
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#5205691 Posted on: 12/15/2015 11:55 AM
So the question is and probably the good thing is that the 290 owners can flash their bios with this one without any issues as I can see the last picture is a reference board so no need of moded bios with bad timings.
And if they realease a 4GB 390X, which I doubt, I can flash my cards
So the question is and probably the good thing is that the 290 owners can flash their bios with this one without any issues as I can see the last picture is a reference board so no need of moded bios with bad timings.
And if they realease a 4GB 390X, which I doubt, I can flash my cards
rl66
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Joined: 2007-05-31
#5205709 Posted on: 12/15/2015 12:43 PM
So the question is and probably the good thing is that the 290 owners can flash their bios with this one without any issues as I can see the last picture is a reference board so no need of moded bios with bad timings.
And if they realease a 4GB 390X, which I doubt, I can flash my cards
from my experience it is not so good... better extract the original 290(x) bios then apply the 390(x) clocks on it and flash it back...
but is it so usefull??? i doubd about it as by software OC you can go already upper than a 390(x) with 99% of the card...
So the question is and probably the good thing is that the 290 owners can flash their bios with this one without any issues as I can see the last picture is a reference board so no need of moded bios with bad timings.
And if they realease a 4GB 390X, which I doubt, I can flash my cards
from my experience it is not so good... better extract the original 290(x) bios then apply the 390(x) clocks on it and flash it back...
but is it so usefull??? i doubd about it as by software OC you can go already upper than a 390(x) with 99% of the card...
Pixelize
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Posts: 27
Joined: 2015-09-04
#5205718 Posted on: 12/15/2015 01:19 PM
from my experience it is not so good... better extract the original 290(x) bios then apply the 390(x) clocks on it and flash it back...
but is it so usefull??? i doubd about it as by software OC you can go already upper than a 390(x) with 99% of the card...
I know that, my 290x is 1050 gpu at default and my mem easily pass 1500(I`ve reached 1600+), but when I bought my first 290x the bios allowed me to overclock the GPU clock over 1150 but the card was running as fast as a regular non OC 290x, that was known issue with the Powercolor 290X PCS+ version and I got the updated BIOS from them, and now with the fixed one I can`t go that high with the clocks like before without touching the voltage.
And I have a 290 (non X) and I cant go on the mem more than 1300 stable and its with Hynix and the 290x powercolor its with Elpida and it clocks more, and shout be the opposite.
The XFX 290 (stock) is modded with a custom made watercooler so my temps are no more than 60 C, even with the highest achieved overclock, so its not the temp that holds it back, I think the timings are the key, and 1300 for the mem, its fu**ed up when the chips are made to operate at 1500
from my experience it is not so good... better extract the original 290(x) bios then apply the 390(x) clocks on it and flash it back...
but is it so usefull??? i doubd about it as by software OC you can go already upper than a 390(x) with 99% of the card...
I know that, my 290x is 1050 gpu at default and my mem easily pass 1500(I`ve reached 1600+), but when I bought my first 290x the bios allowed me to overclock the GPU clock over 1150 but the card was running as fast as a regular non OC 290x, that was known issue with the Powercolor 290X PCS+ version and I got the updated BIOS from them, and now with the fixed one I can`t go that high with the clocks like before without touching the voltage.
And I have a 290 (non X) and I cant go on the mem more than 1300 stable and its with Hynix and the 290x powercolor its with Elpida and it clocks more, and shout be the opposite.
The XFX 290 (stock) is modded with a custom made watercooler so my temps are no more than 60 C, even with the highest achieved overclock, so its not the temp that holds it back, I think the timings are the key, and 1300 for the mem, its fu**ed up when the chips are made to operate at 1500
icedman
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#5205925 Posted on: 12/15/2015 07:49 PM
Is the 290/290x even capable of using 8gb all benchmarks I have seen show very marginal performance gains over the 290x with 4gb but i thought that was due to minor core oc.
Is the 290/290x even capable of using 8gb all benchmarks I have seen show very marginal performance gains over the 290x with 4gb but i thought that was due to minor core oc.
icedman
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#5205929 Posted on: 12/15/2015 07:54 PM
O and i love what u did with that card pixelize, I did something similar to my gtx 670 with a corsair h55 and cut up gpu blocks for ramsinks not aesthetically pretty like yours since i cant fit the reference shroud back on but hey 1380/7200 clocks with modded bios at 60c
O and i love what u did with that card pixelize, I did something similar to my gtx 670 with a corsair h55 and cut up gpu blocks for ramsinks not aesthetically pretty like yours since i cant fit the reference shroud back on but hey 1380/7200 clocks with modded bios at 60c
rl66
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#5205980 Posted on: 12/15/2015 09:58 PM
it's more to do better than the 6go of the green side...
or more like the 750Ti 4go.
in most scenario 4go is enough... on other hand they have to do with mem maker so step are 4gig -> 8gig ; 3gig -> 6gig etc etc unless they have to redo a complete PCB/chip architecture (and so it wouldn't be profitable)...
but yes R9 290(x) as the 980(ti) can handle huge (for now ) mem.
Is the 290/290x even capable of using 8gb all benchmarks I have seen show very marginal performance gains over the 290x with 4gb but i thought that was due to minor core oc.
it's more to do better than the 6go of the green side...
or more like the 750Ti 4go.
in most scenario 4go is enough... on other hand they have to do with mem maker so step are 4gig -> 8gig ; 3gig -> 6gig etc etc unless they have to redo a complete PCB/chip architecture (and so it wouldn't be profitable)...
but yes R9 290(x) as the 980(ti) can handle huge (for now
) mem.
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This won't have significant impact on either performance or price.
GDDR5 chips currently come in the form of 256MB and 512MB chips. However, all GDDR5 chips come in the form of a width of 32 bits. So to keep the same buss width the new 4GB versions will need to have 16 chips, regardless of the storage capacity of the chips.
GDDR5 chips are not cheap, but i seriously doubt the cheaper 256MB versions will have a significant impact on the price of the entire product.