AMD Readies Radeon R9 380X

[HKZeroFive]

Chinese language tech site EXPreview has published a series of pictures and some rough spec details of an XFX branded Radeon R9 380X graphics card. The site's 'informed sources' says that the graphics card is already in mass production and an insider sent along some photos of the XFX sample as proof.

Looking at the leaked graphics card sample on the surface, to begin with, we can see that this particular XFX model is probably going to be part of the firm's large 'Double Dissipation' range. You can see this particular card features a new red active cooler circumference design with twin fans that are easily removable, with a squeeze of a pair of clips, for fluff and dust extraction. Beneath the 100mm fans is a large aluminium fin cooler section aided and abetted by four 8mm heat pipes.

As for the AMD Radeon R9 380X tech specs, EXPreview hasn't got the full details from its source so has had to speculate. It is thought that this as yet unannounced card will sit somewhere between the specs of the previous generation equivalent (R9 280X), and the full Tonga specification of 2,048 stream processors across 32 compute units, 128 TMUs, 32 ROPs, with a 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface.

[spoiler=Radeon R9 380X Pictures]

I predict this card would be in the range of $230 - $250 USD, and should fill up a nice price point for many people looking to buy such a GPU. Expect it to have all the new AMD tech such as Freesync, a newer GCN and Asynchronous Compute (most likely for DX12). I'm going to go on an educated guess and say it'll perform very similarly to the 290, and should challenge NVIDIA's GTX 960 (unless they're planning to make a 960Ti which I highly doubt). People have commented that this will be the anticipated 300 series version of the speculated 285X a while ago, with a fully unlocked Tonga GPU (and it was my mistake to call it a rebrand), and it should help AMD position itself better for the incoming DX12 titles. Oh, and AMD - don't do a 370X and limit this card to China only. Please.

Original Sauce (Chinese): http://www.expreview.com/42897.html

HEXUS' Translation: http://hexus.net/tech/news/graphics/86432-xfx-double-dissipation-amd-radeon-r9-380x-pictured/

[Zayzo]

I'd probably get it if its worth the price. And the 280x already dumps on anything from $180-200 so it doesn't really matter. We need something in that price range. 

[SkilledRebuilds]

Fully unlocked 285>Rebrand?

 

"Will sit somewhere between the specs of the previous generation equivalent (R9 280X), and the full Tonga specification of 2,048 stream processors."

NOPE.

[Sauron]

A rebrand of what? Not the 7970 again I hope?

[Gunjob]

If its full tonga you could call it a rebrand of the m295x but that card can only be found in the iMac5k. 

[carolkarine]

A rebrand of what? Not the 7970 again I hope?

I'll bet my ass it's fully unlocked Tonga, which will have the same number of shaders as Tahiti but it's two gens newer (GCN 1.2)

[Notional]

Was there not a post about this already, that stated the 380x was a China only card?

[SkilledRebuilds]

Fully unlocked 285?

"Will sit somewhere between the specs of the previous generation equivalent (R9 280X),...........................................and the full Tonga specification of 2,048 stream processors."

.>>>NOT FULL TONGA 380X GPU<<<<

They stated, in between the fully unlocked one, and the one below it, hope Its wrong.

I'll bet my ass it's fully unlocked Tonga, which will have the same number of shaders as Tahiti but it's two gens newer (GCN 1.2)

[HKZeroFive]

Was there not a post about this already, that stated the 380x was a China only card?

You may have confused this with the 370X. AMD announced that card was exclusive to China.

[Sauron]

I'll bet my ass it's fully unlocked Tonga, which will have the same number of shaders as Tahiti but it's two gens newer (GCN 1.2)

 

so hawaii cores in tahiti quantities?

[AnnoyedShelf]

That is one sexy cooler

[Humbug]

AMD has been sitting on Tonga for so long without releasing a fully unlocked version. The 280x is great don't get me wrong but GCN version 1.2 has better tessellation performance and freesync. Maybe they were holding it as an ace up their sleeves in case NVIDIA made a 960ti etc. As of now in NVIDIA's line-up there is a big performance gap between the 960 and the 970. So I guess AMD didn't have enough pressure to release 380x.

[arniks8]

Fully unlocked 285>Rebrand?

"Will sit somewhere between the specs of the previous generation equivalent (R9 280X), and the full Tonga specification of 2,048 stream processors."

NOPE.

380 is a rebranded 285.

Edit: Fixed typo.

[Ashaira]

I'd probably get it if its worth the price. And the 280x already dumps on anything from $180-200 so it doesn't really matter. We need something in that price range. 

wouldn't mind a software upgrade to my 280x and 7970 GHz if this is a rebrand.

Funny thing a 280x crossfire is running MGS5 at 4k maxed out aside from post processing blur and depth of field which are off (only wanted to turn off AA but it's bundled in post processing).

[Zayzo]

wouldn't mind a software upgrade to my 280x and 7970 GHz if this is a rebrand.

Funny thing a 280x crossfire is running MGS5 at 4k maxed out aside from post processing blur and depth of field which are off (only wanted to turn off AA but it's bundled in post processing).

Meh, i doubt they can rebrand a card twice in a row without some uproar. I mean, its already like 4 years old. I hope its a 4GB card and at least %15 faster than the 280x. 

[Ashaira]

Meh, i doubt they can rebrand a card twice in a row without some uproar. I mean, its already like 4 years old. I hope its a 4GB card and at least %15 faster than the 280x. 

people keep screaming about rebrands but i'm ok with it. they give a lot of value to those of us who don't upgrade every generation. whereas nvidia just says.... nope buy a new one or be stuck on life support.

[Zayzo]

people keep screaming about rebrands but i'm ok with it. they give a lot of value to those of us who don't upgrade every generation. whereas nvidia just says.... nope buy a new one or be stuck on life support.

IDK, i'd rather be buying new stuff at full price than old stuff at full price. 

[MoonSpot]

285 is a rebranded 380.

Funny since the 285 came out first.

[Ashaira]

IDK, i'd rather be buying new stuff at full price than old stuff at full price. 

then buy the top models. the top ones are always new. why go from a 280x to a 380x and not go for a 390x or a fury. why stay in the same tier?

[Zayzo]

then buy the top models. the top ones are always new. why go from a 280x to a 380x and not go for a 390x or a fury. why stay in the same tier?

You're only thinking of someone who already has the card that's being rebranded. What about new buyers? They would feel pretty shitty that they're buying a card that's exactly the same as friends at the same price with a different name. Cause its like they aren't buying anything new. We should encourage new generations not rebranding of old cards. 

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Wait, you can take out the fans?? Cool...

[arniks8]

Funny since the 285 came out first.

Dat typo.

[Ashaira]

You're only thinking of someone who already has the card that's being rebranded. What about new buyers? They would feel pretty shitty that they're buying a card that's exactly the same as friends at the same price with a different name. Cause its like they aren't buying anything new. We should encourage new generations not rebranding of old cards. 

if you are a new buyer why does the rebrand affect you? you never had the card so it is new to you.

[carolkarine]

so hawaii cores in tahiti quantities?

Fury cores. Hawaii is gcn 1.1

[VagabondWraith]

I hope this is full Tonga. Would love to buy as a second card (and the fact I never owned an AMD GPU). IF it is I'm definitely getting it.