- 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5
- Core Clock 985 MHz
- 1 x DL-DVI-I 1 x DL-DVI-D 1 x HDMI 1 x DisplayPort
- 1792 Stream Processors
- PCI Express 3.0
Excellent card!
06/28/2015
This review is from: SAPPHIRE NITRO Radeon R9 380 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 ATX Dual-X OC Version (UEFI) Video Card 100384NT4GOCL
Pros:
There are many. Looks great, good price, very powerful, runs cool, quiet, more than adequate for current online games at ultra/maximum/movie quality settings. Runs cool @ 53-58C all the time. The AMD Catalyst Control lets me auto-select to keep the frame rate at whatever I want. I set it for 60 FPS (it runs War Thunder at about 200 FPS otherwise) at all the settings I want maxed out completely. The software throttles back the GPU speed to save power and lower heat and fan speed while keeping FPS steady at 60. It's a very attractive and solidly built card. I couldn't ask for more. Backplate? It doesn't need it and I didn't care to pay extra for a card that has it. Backplate is totally not needed or wanted here. Build quality is perfect. The card isn't at all flimsy, droopy or saggy. Absolutely no need to OC this card. Ran perfect right out of the box (I had already uninstalled the old driver and then installed the new one. It just works perfectly. I play War Thunder which is an online WW 2 airplane simulator game. The game has built-in benchmarks. I upgraded to this from an MSI R9 270X ITX version (that card was perfect too BTW). I ran 4 random benchmarks from this game with the 270X. Then I ran the same 4 with the 380. Results were that in these War Thunder benchmarks, the R9 380 scored 250% higher than the R9 270X. Seriously. With some settings turned on or set on high, the 270X would drop to about 37 FPS - still OK. I used to run the game at about 100 FPS with the 270X with almost everything set on high. The 270X is more than adequate for War Thunder, WoW or SWTOR and gives a really great gaming experience for lots less money. I run this with an EVGA 750 PSU that's 80+ gold certified. I have zero psu issues and it runs cool. This is more PSU than I need - and this vid card doesn't require this much power but I got it on sale and I like the modular high quality PSUs.
Cons:
I didn't need this much graphics power after all. But it's really nice and will be ready for higher res monitors and more demanding games later on.
Overall Review:
The picture quality didn't really improve ( it is ever so slightly richer looking) as it was already really good. FPS potential drastically improved but wasn't really needed for me. GTX 960 vs R9 380? Flip a coin. These days, a $150 vid card is all a person needs for a great MMORPG gaming experience. This card truly satisfies, though, because it's always comforting to know you have reserve power when it's needed.
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- Michael L.
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Verified Owner
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Owned For:
1 day to 1 week
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