GIGABYTE started its Radeon R9 380X graphics card lineup with just one model, the R9 380X G1.Gaming (GV-R938XG1 GAMING-4GD). The company now launched its variant, which sticks to AMD reference clock speeds, the R9 380X WindForce 2X (GV-R938XWF2-4GD). Based on a custom-design PCB by GIGABYTE, the card features the company's WindForce 2X cooling solution, which features an aluminium fin-stack heatsink that uses three copper heat pipes to draw heat directly from the GPU die; dissipating it with a pair of 90 mm spinners. The cooler features 0 dBA idle, it completely shuts the fans off when the GPU is idling.

Based on the 28 nm "Antigua" silicon, the Radeon R9 380X features 2,048 stream processors, 128 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 4 GB of memory. GIGABYTE's card sticks to AMD reference clock speeds of 970 MHz core, and 5.70 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory. The card draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. Display outputs include two dual-link DVI, and one each of DisplayPort 1.2a and HDMI 1.4a connectors. The card will be priced at US $230.

AMD announced the Radeon R9 380X graphics card. Positioned between the Radeon R9 380 and the R9 390, this card starts at US $229, and takes advantage of a huge gap in NVIDIA's lineup, between the GeForce GTX 960 ($190) and the GTX 970 ($319). Based on the 28 nm "Antigua" ("Tonga") silicon, this SKU features the full complement of the chip's 32 Graphics CoreNext (GCN) compute units, amounting to 2,048 stream processors. It also features 128 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 4 GB of memory. The core is clocked at 970 MHz, and the memory at 5.70 GHz (GDDR5-effective), amounting to a memory bandwidth of 182 GB/s.

Here are the first pictures of three AIB-branded Radeon R9 380X graphics cards, including one each from ASUS, XFX, and GIGABYTE. The ASUS branded Radeon R9 380X graphics card, the R9 380X STRIX, features the company's dual-slot, dual-fan DirectCU II cooling solution. ASUS is also giving it a slick back-plate, and offering it in two variants based on factory-overclock (or lack of it).

The XFX branded R9 380X features a similar product size to the ASUS card, featuring a moderately long PCB, and a dual-slot, dual-fan "Double Dissipation" cooler. XFX will sell variants of this card in reference and factory-overclocked speeds. Lastly, there's GIGABYTE. Like the others, this card features a medium-size PCB, with the company's dual-slot WindForce 2X cooling solution. Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" aka "Antigua" silicon, the R9 380X reportedly features 2,048 GCN 1.2 stream processors, 128 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 4 GB of memory. It's expected to launch later this week.Souces: VideoCardz, HardwareInfo, WCCFTech

Although the first Radeon R9 380X graphics cards began appearing in the press way back as mid-September, it's only in mid-November, the 15th to be precise, that AMD plans to formally launch this new performance-segment SKU. Priced at US $249, the R9 380X will be positioned between the $300+ R9 390/GTX 970; and the $200-ish R9 380, capitalizing on a gaping hole in NVIDIA's product stack, between the GTX 960 and the GTX 970.

The R9 380X will be based on the same exact silicon as the R9 380, and the same exact compact package, with pins for 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface; and not the 384-bit interface that the "Tonga" aka "Antigua" silicon physically supports. All 32 Graphics CoreNext compute units (CUs) will be enabled, yielding 2,048 stream processors. The chip will also feature 128 TMUs and 32 ROPs. The core could be clocked as high as 1100 MHz, and memory at 6.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective). 4 GB will be the standard memory amount. There won't be a reference design, and AMD AIB partners will be ready with custom-design products from day-one.

It looks like AMD's desktop discrete GPU lineup for 2015 will see a mix of rebrands, re-codename, and one big new chip, all making up the new Radeon R7 300 and R9 300 series. Cards based in this lineup should begin rolling out this month. Leaks from OEMs such as this one, suggest that the first of these should begin rolling out as early as June 16.

The spread is pretty cut and dry. "Hawaii," the chip driving the R9 290 series, will not only get a new codename as "Grenada," but also a seamless rebrand to the R9 390 series, with Grenada Pro making up the R9 390, and Grenada XT making up the R9 390X. One possibility could be AMD taking advantage of low 4 Gbit GDDR5 chip prices to cram 8 GB of standard memory amount, across Grenada's 512-bit wide memory interface. The R9 390X will compete with the GeForce GTX 970, while the R9 390 will offer an option in the vast price and performance gorge between the GTX 960 and GTX 970.