Monday, December 14th 2015

AMD Readies 4 GB Variant of the Radeon R9 390

In a bid to step up the pressure on NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 970 and the product-stack below it, AMD is getting its add-in board (AIB) graphics card partners to launch cost-effective variants of the Radeon R9 390, with 4 GB of memory, instead of the 8 GB that was standard to the SKU. These cards feature 4 GB of memory across the chip's 512-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, and could help AMD and its partners shave a few dozen Dollars off the standard version, which is currently selling for as low as $309.

4 GB of memory would make the R9 390 a complete re-brand of the R9 290, if not for its clock speeds. The custom-design variants of the 4 GB R9 390 ship with clock speeds that are 10% higher than those of the R9 290, and the performance was found to be proportionately higher, by Expreview. Of the three cards spotted crawling their way out of product launch pipes in China, the ones from XFX and PowerColor retain the design and packaging of their 8 GB siblings; while Sapphire mated the chip with a new dual-fan cooler with a meaty, split aluminium fin-stack heatsink.
Sources: VideoCardz, Expreview
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37 Comments on AMD Readies 4 GB Variant of the Radeon R9 390

#26
Dracius
RejZoRI'd rather have R9-290X than GTX 970. Any day.
I've got a 290X myself. Quite happy with it, though the GTX 970 is a very good card.

In this specific situation, the only reason why I'd get a 970 is that games just seem to be smoother and more trouble free on an Nvidia card. Nvidia is gobbling up AAA+ titles and making them all fancy and smooth.

However, the 290X winds hands down on longevity. 3-4 years after being released and it's still trying to put up a fight against Nvidia. The whole DX12/GCN advantage is a plus too.

TBH, I'd actually love to sell off my 290X and get a 980 Ti, but damn.. it's so expensive.. my MSI Lightning 290X costed $350 (new) where the 980Ti costs nearly $900, more than double the price. (In South Africa)
Posted on Reply
#27
john_
Now we know why AMD didn't came out with a 384bit 380X. AMD is targeting that gap between 960 and 970 really hard and with a 4GB 390 they secure two things. First, in case Nvidia drops 970's price, it will find a competing card already waiting and probably beating it again in the new lower price point. Second, a 960Ti is DOA.
Posted on Reply
#28
Fluffmeister
RejZoRI'd rather have R9-290X than GTX 970. Any day.
Sadly for AMD, you're still in the minority.

I suspect the 970 has outsold AMD's entire lineup.

Also Rebrandeons are meh too.
Posted on Reply
#29
RejZoR
R9-290X is essentially R9-390X. And R9-390X is a GTX 980 competition. That's why. GTX 970 is just meh. Plus that 3.5GB thing...
Posted on Reply
#30
medi01
MusaabThe legendary GTX... It has placed itself beside the legends like ....
I recall P4 Prescott was even more legendary, topping the sales chart, like, all the way.
Posted on Reply
#31
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
MusaabThe legendary GTX 970, It has placed itself beside the legends like 8800 GTS, ATi 9700, GeForce 256, TNT 2 and 3DFX Voodoo series.
And it took the crown for best seller for an entire year and it's still fighting for places in the top ten list with GTX 980Ti and GTX 960.
How is this relevant to the thread?
Posted on Reply
#32
Vayra86
rtwjunkieHow is this relevant to the thread?
We were missing Nvidia in the AMD thread here.
Posted on Reply
#33
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
Vayra86We were missing Nvidia in the AMD thread here.
Oh, thanks for clearing that up for me! :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#34
Casecutter
970's will in a year feel meh, when a Pascal/Artic Island replacement hit, and so will these 390 4Gb and perhaps the 8Gb... spending $300 now is bad timing.

Consider 780's... for those who grabbed it a little more than 2 years ago and paid the close to the full tilt price of $650, it's now are sparring with cards costing 65% less. Nvidia has the 3.5Gb as a planned obsolescence. Not saying that if you hadn't grabbed the 970 back a year ago it wasn't a good place, but it won't be 6-8 months when the B-M's will be showing ($300 today) on Dx12 titles will have folks seeing it's time to spend again. If holding to 1080p for more than a year, getting into this class of card is to much cash, while >4Gb will be the bare minimum for 1440p soon enough.

My 18 year olds' are on 1080p; with a 270X (2 years now) and 280 (year ago). While 270x is still doing adequate, what would you say is the right jump to upgrade? All the while realizing in 6-8 months a new FinFET parts for $240 could bouncing all these cards (390/970) down 2 tiers, all the while making 1440p an actual ability.
Posted on Reply
#35
GhostRyder
Luis KuYou are wrong my friend, everyone who reads still agrees the 970 is a damn good card. I knew about the 3.5gb of vram and still proceeded to buy two of them. The first one I got has 0 issues gaming at 1440p 60hz so I decided to get another one for my little brother. We both have 450watt power supplies in our systems so a 390 was out of the question since we have overclocked i7's in our systems. The 970 fit in nicely and handled a good overclock and we aren't overloading our power supplies. Different strokes for different folks, the 970 is still very well regarded in the community even among those who read and are well informed.
First of all, I am correct as most people who buy the cards look at the box. I've lost track at how many people I've spoken to who are unaware of the issue as most do not research and buy based off of the numbering schemes and what the box says. Most state it does not bother them and that they are just more annoyed they were not aware because it might have influenced their decision to upgrade to a GTX 980 or something else. But that begs the question on why you would spend the money on building an OC i7 system with that card then buy a very low wattage power supply (Except for a few exceptions) 450watts for a gaming system is pushing the minimum...
RCoonAm I the only person that cares more about the box than the card that comes in it? Seriously, look at that thing.
Yea, the XFX box (I am assuming you mean that one) is awesome.
rtwjunkieOh, thanks for clearing that up for me! :laugh:
I think it has become a requirement for any AMD thread at this point.
john_Now we know why AMD didn't came out with a 384bit 380X. AMD is targeting that gap between 960 and 970 really hard and with a 4GB 390 they secure two things. First, in case Nvidia drops 970's price, it will find a competing card already waiting and probably beating it again in the new lower price point. Second, a 960Ti is DOA.
Maybe, but it depends where this becomes priced. Hopefully it will be close to $275 which will offer a decent value and (Sortta) midway point between the 380X and 390.
Posted on Reply
#36
john_
GhostRyderMaybe, but it depends where this becomes priced. Hopefully it will be close to $275 which will offer a decent value and (Sortta) midway point between the 380X and 390.
Or where they will be sold. Wccftech updated there article with, what they call, official confirmation from AMD, that those 4GB 390s will be sold exclusively in China. On the other hand I do expect latter, if there is any movement from Nvidia in that price range, AMD to let it's partners sell those cards globally.
Posted on Reply
#37
jesdals
I just hope that a R9 390 bios will fit my R9 290...
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