Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup

Written by Ryan

July 16, 2015 | 10:50

Tags: #fiji #nitro #r9-300-series #r9-380 #r9-390 #r9-390x #r9-390x-review #radeon-r9-fury-x #tri-x

Companies: #amd #sapphire

Sapphire R9 390 Nitro 8GB

Manufacturer: Sapphire Technology
UK price (as reviewed): Approx. £270 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): MSRP $340 (ex Tax)

Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup - R9 390 Nitro and R9 390X Tri-X
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The second Nitro Series graphics card from Sapphire, using the R9 390 GPU and 8GB of VRAM, retails for £270 in the UK market. Sapphire has chosen to add a 10MHz frequency increase to the reference GPU clock speed, leaving the final clock speed at 1,010MHz, but the memory remains untouched at 6GHz.

Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup - R9 390 Nitro and R9 390X Tri-X
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The Sapphire R9 390 Nitro uses a triple-fan cooling solution with 10mm heat pipes based on the Tri-X cooler and this maintains a dual-slot form factor, which gives Sapphire an edge over many rivals that opted for 2.5- or 3-slot solutions. Maintaining a dual-slot design does increase the length, however, which is 308mm, or approximately 12.13 inches.

Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup - R9 390 Nitro and R9 390X Tri-X
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There is no backplate fitted which is a little disappointing since rival R9 390s from other vendors in the same price bracket, or lower, do include one. Sapphire claims the decision to not include a backplate helps keep pricing down but for such a premium GPU we'd still like to see one included, particularly as aesthetics are a large part of the PC gaming ethos.

Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup - R9 390 Nitro and R9 390X Tri-X
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Two 8 pin PCIe connectors provide power for the R9 390 Nitro allowing for up to 375W to be supplied to the GPU. Display connectivity is DisplayPort-heavy; three ports are deployed, as well as a single HDMI and DVI.

Sapphire R9 390X Tri-X 8GB

Manufacturer: Sapphire Technology
UK price (as reviewed): Approx. £350 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): MSRP $430 (ex Tax)

Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup - R9 390 Nitro and R9 390X Tri-X
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The last graphics card in this roundup review is the Sapphire R9 390X Tri-X which comes to market for approximately £350. Sapphire adds a measly 5MHz to the reference GPU clock speed, bumping things up to 1,055MHz while the stock memory frequency of 6,000MHz is left untouched.

Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup - R9 390 Nitro and R9 390X Tri-X
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The backplate-less theme continues with the Sapphire R9 390X Tri-X and this decision is disappointing for the same reasons as before - rival products in an equivalent price bracket include a backplate where Sapphire does not. In terms of rigidity Sapphire's graphics cards are perfectly functional without a backplate due to the reinforced structure of the cooling design but on an aesthetic level the omission of a backplate does, in our opinion, lose something.

Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup - R9 390 Nitro and R9 390X Tri-X
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The I/O of the R9 390X Tri-X is identical to the R9 390 Nitro - a single DVI and HDMI with a trio of DisplayPort.

Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup - R9 390 Nitro and R9 390X Tri-X
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