XFX R9 380 Double Dissipation 4GB Video Card Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,626
XFX R9 380 Double Dissipation 4GB Video Card Review - Today we look at the newly released AMD Radeon R9 380 GPU. We have XFX's new R9 380 Double Dissipation custom video card featuring new cooling and a factory overclock. We will also compare the XFX R9 380 to a GTX 960 4GB, in addition we will test the AMD R9 285 clock-for-clock with the XFX R9 380 to see if there are any differences.
 
Nice results for the 380. That's a lot of performance for the price segment.

Thanks for another outstanding review, [H]!
 
Thank you for committing to compare the overclocked versions of both cards in an upcoming review, it's been a long time since you've done that :D

I've been looking forward to a modern comparison of both mid-range cards with both the improved drivers, and game patches that have changed since these cards were last reviewed.

I'd also like a chance to see how much of a difference the 4GB ram makes. I'm not sold on it making much of a difference for either card.
 
defaultluser said:
Thank you for committing to compare the overclocked versions of both cards in an upcoming review, it's been a long time since you've done that :D

I'd also like a chance to see how much of a difference the 4GB ram makes. I'm not sold on it making much of a difference for either card.
Click to expand...

In addition we are also directly comparing 2GB and 4GB in the next review, both things will be covered fully.

Also, while this evaluation did not make it in time to use the Witcher 1.07 patch, all testing was done when the patch came out, I have personally tested it over the weekend on another review I'm working on and I saw no performance difference. Also, all following reviews will use the 1.07 patch.
 
Great review, and a bargain for the price.
HOWEVER, my one nitpick on this card is the pci-e power plug location. Putting it at the end is just a terrible practice. The vast majority of cases are limited in their length, not width, so putting them there will cause issues with many cases. Often, the card is close to a drive bay in m-atx cases, or the case itself in smaller setups. Seeing as this card is aimed at 1080p gaming, it will not likely see large full atx cases.

Sweet card, but a version with plugs along the edge would be a better buy for many...
 
just because i like being a shit disturber...the comments are surprising devoid of complaints regarding gameworks titles artificially hamstringing amd hardware,
 
rennyf77 said:
just because i like being a shit disturber...the comments are surprising devoid of complaints regarding gameworks titles artificially hamstringing amd hardware,
Click to expand...

:D

I make no bones about the fact that the R9 285 is faster than the GTX 960 - that's no secret. But until the rebrand it's been disgustingly overpriced. It was typically in the $240-260 range when a card that was only slightly slower was selling for $200-210. No question which card got recommended in builds.

Now that the 380 2G / 4G price has dropped for $210 / 240, I can heartily recommend this card. When I first saw the review conclusion and Gold award I was dumbfounded...until I checked the brand new prices!

No Brent, it seems you haven't gone insane :D

It's just too bad that they waited so long to price this thing competitively. I mean, how many people didn't already buy a 960?
 
Last edited:
i'd been recommending the r9 280 instead of the 285 for budget builds right up until nvidia started packing the gtx 960s with game bundles.
 
Defaultuser,

https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/video-card/

Check the trending prices for 960 and 285 there. Honestly, between these two cards it´s never been about the price on average. When 960 launched in 2015 January, 285 was already marked down to ~220$.

285 was too expensive on launch (250$ in 2014 September), but that was mostly because AMD also had to wind down their inventory of older 280/280x-cards first.
 
Great review, I would have liked to see clock for clock power consumption between the R9 285 and the R9 380. Also, AMD says Mantle for BF4 was not coded to work with Tonga and Fiji based GPUs.
 
Glad for this review. I just picked up a Gigabyte Windforce 2OC R9 285 for $285 + $30 MIR. Factory overclocked at 973 Mhz, it should do me well. Looks like it's all out of stock now so I clicked "buy" at the right time!

I really would have like to pick up the 380 4g edition, but couldn't justify spending $80 more. If I hadn't gotten that good price and MIR, the 380 would have been the better value, but a deal is a deal!
 
jardows said:
Glad for this review. I just picked up a Gigabyte Windforce 2OC R9 285 for $285 + $30 MIR. Factory overclocked at 973 Mhz, it should do me well. Looks like it's all out of stock now so I clicked "buy" at the right time!

I really would have like to pick up the 380 4g edition, but couldn't justify spending $80 more. If I hadn't gotten that good price and MIR, the 380 would have been the better value, but a deal is a deal!
Click to expand...

2GB can be a huge problem with modern gaming.. im using a 280X and with 3GB its still struggling in a lot of games..
 
Araxie said:
2GB can be a huge problem with modern gaming.. im using a 280X and with 3GB its still struggling in a lot of games..
Click to expand...

Is 280X really fast enough to use settings that would be limited by 3 GB?
 
Meeho said:
Is 280X really fast enough to use settings that would be limited by 3 GB?
Click to expand...

Definitively it is.. specially those highly factory OC'd. at 1150mhz - 1200mhz core clock with 1600mhz those cards have plenty of power to max out settings limited by 3GB a Friend have a sapphire 7970 6GB at 1225mhz core /1650 memory that runs silky smooth games like Shadow of mordor dragon age inquisition or watch dogs that can run easily above 3GB of vRAM usage.
 
Today newegg is selling Sapphire 290X cards for $259 after rebate...how would the 380 fare against a 290x if the price is $30 different's
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top