AMD AIBs Prepare Cost Effective Radeon R9 390 Models With 4 GB Memory

[Mr_Troll]

AMD AIBs Ready New, Cost Effective 4 GB Radeon R9 390 Models - Sapphire, XFX and PowerColor Ready With Custom Variants

Since their launch, the Radeon R9 390 series has tackled the GM204 based GeForce 900 series cards on both fronts, value and performance, pretty well and that is just about to get better. The Radeon R9 390 launched with 8 GB GDDR5 memory which was aimed to make the card a good 2K/4K offering. Knowing that the card is best for users who demand great 2K gaming performance, AIBs have prepared cost effective models with 4 GB memory which is a great move.

While the 8 GB memory is definitely a plus point when games start demanding more memory, but 4 GB is more in line to the memory requirements in current generation titles while only a few games right now demand such high VRAM requirements. The Radeon R9 390 (8 GB) retailed at price of $329 US while the 4 GB models will retail at prices close to $299 US (even lower) which is in the same range as the GeForce GTX 970 which has seen price going down after the launch of R9 390.

Sapphire Radeon R9 390 4 GB Dual-X OC:
 

 

XFX Radeon R9 390 4 GB Black Edition OC:
 

 

PowerColor Radeon R9 390 4 GB OC Edition:
 

Some cards from Sapphire, PowerColor and XFX have already been released and from the looks of it, these custom models, while featuring lower VRAM are just as fast as the Radeon R9 390X due to higher clock speeds compared to reference models and boosted profiles saved within the BIOS. The Sapphire Radeon R9 390 Dual-X OC comes with 1010 MHz core clock and 5000 MHz boost clock. The memory clock means that the card will run at 320 GB/s compared to 384 GB/s bandwidth offered on the 8 GB variant but a NITRO Booster profile saved in the BIOS of the card can be switched on through a click of a switch that will put the card next to a R9 390X in terms of performance. The PowerColor Radeon R9 390 4 GB is a high-end model that comes with a triple-fan cooler and is clocked at 1010 MHz core and 6000 MHz memory clock. Finally, we have the XFX Radeon R9 390 Black Edition which comes with clock speeds of 1015 MHz for the core and 6000 MHz for the memory.

 

AMD Radeon R9 390 4 GB vs Radeon R9 290 4 GB Benchmarks:

Testing done by Expreview reveals that the card is at least 10% faster than the Radeon R9 290 which uses the same core (although the Grenada core is clocked higher) but also runs cooler and has slightly lower power needs. The Radeon R9 390 was already a competitive card against the GeForce GTX 970 but AIBs have made it even more good looking for consumers with the reduce price and maintaining the same performance benefit. Currently, these models are only available in APAC market but expect to see a range of these cards enter the US and EU markets soon.

 

What a f***ing good idea AMD. Just give it a good price pls . #rip970

Source:http://wccftech.com/amd-aibs-prepare-4-gb-radeon-r9-390/

http://www.expreview.com/44510.html
 

[Ostwind]

well then

[Vegetable]

If it's priced any lower than $300, RIP 970.

 

EDIT ----- Inb4 960 ti 3gb

[Bouzoo]

A really smart move by AMD. While I really like this I am still gonna wait for new year and new cards, and I'm more interested in who designed this? How any why would you do that?

 

[Dabombinable]

Kind of pointless with all of the 4GB R9 290 and 290X floating around still.....

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

4GB 290s are probably gonna stop selling soon. This is probably gonna replace them. If the price is right, this will probably be the best card in the 390(8GB)/970 range. 

[Pesmerga]

I love the XFX package

 

So out of the ordinary than the classic rectangular box

[Joaquin94]

Seems like a great deal for those that want a powerful gpu but don't really play at higher than 1080p, where the 8gb of vram would actually make more sense

[Starelementpoke]

A really smart move by AMD. While I really like this I am still gonna wait for new year and new cards, and I'm more interested in who designed this? How any why would you do that?

 

Dude, I'd buy that. Also, good move on AMD. SUCK IT NIVIDIA!

[Bouzoo]

Kind of pointless with all of the 4GB R9 290 and 290X floating around still.....

 

Not really when many (maybe even the majority) think that newer is better. Marketing. 

 

Also how much do those cost? If 390 4GB are similar in price while offering 10% better performance it's not that pointless. All depends in pricing. Yes you can flash bios etc but that's a different thing. 

[Ridska]

MMMmhhhh , dat money per FPS doe ganna be awesome...

[Misanthrope]

Ok so that's one of their shortcomings solved, now how about allowing vendors to sell Fury X cards with their own cooling solution? That'd bring prices down and make the card more competitive and yeah, it would also side step Coolermaster and their bitter battle with Patent Orc (i.e. not quite a troll but not quite just business) Acetek.

[ashypanda]

how are the AIBs meant to make a profit, as there's so many AMD GPUs they must be struggling to sell large numbers of these cards, or it's a way to sell on worse binned chips which can't handle the whole 8GB of VRAM.

[Paralectic]

4GB is enough tho.

[Interfectorem]

Wish they'd make it mITX as well. Save on VRAM and material cost for even lower price. And then appeal to the SFF market. Would've put the final nail in the coffin for Nvidia in the sub $300 segment.

 

The Powercolor card baffles me though. Why go ham with the cooler for a lower spec product that is intended for cost savings?

Because it's still using the same GPU a regular R9 390 is using which produces the same amount of heat. VRAM produces negligible heat in comparison to the GPU core itself, so there's not point in re-designing a cooler ground up for just a few less RAM chips that produce little heat. Either that, or they're using the same amount of RAM chips, but lower capacity RAM chips.

[raphidy]

It did need 8gb of Vram in the first place.

[michaelocarroll007]

Kind of pointless with all of the 4GB R9 290 and 290X floating around still.....

 

ive been looking for decently priced 290s and none seem to be floating around any more like they were a few months back which makes sense why this is getting Put into place now after most are gone. Granted used ones are pretty relevant but thats with any card.

[GodSpoon]

A really smart move by AMD. While I really like this I am still gonna wait for new year and new cards, and I'm more interested in who designed this? How any why would you do that?

 

 

Such a weird box

[PlayStation 2]

I dig it but AMD should undercut Nvidia to $289 to really get them sweating.

[RagnarokDel]

Dude, I'd buy that. Also, good move on AMD. SUCK IT NIVIDIA!

Dont buy xfx, they're anal about locking voltage

[MEC-777]

The R9 290 lives on! with a different name 

[Castdeath97]

Kind of pointless with all of the 4GB R9 290 and 290X floating around still.....

They will eventually run out of stock and will need to be replaced.

[AresKrieger]

If it's priced any lower than $300, RIP 970.

 

Not really Nvidia would just lower prices, as they can afford to.

[ivan134]

They will eventually run out of stock and will need to be replaced.

Besides, scouring the used market is something the minority of people on tech forums do. Your average consumer does not do that.

[ivan134]

I'm not sure I would go near that one from Sapphire. That cooler doesn't look beefy enough to cool Hawaii and allow overclocking, but we'll have to wait for benchmarks. As of right now, I'm skeptical.

 

EDIT: Also, these cards must be selling better than we thought if they're confident enough to make these.