Monday, June 15th 2015

Radeon R9 390X and R9 390 to Feature Faster Memory, Core Over Predecessors

AMD's upcoming Radeon R9 390X and R9 390 performance-segment graphics cards reportedly feature higher GPU and memory clocks over the products they are a re-branding of, the R9 290X and R9 290, respectively. The 28 nm "Grenada" silicon they are based on, is identical to "Hawaii," down to the last transistor. This has been confirmed by leaked GPU-Z screenshots, which reveal the device-IDs of the two cards to be identical to those of the R9 290X and R9 290. Since the Device-IDs are the same, GPU-Z is reading the chip as "Hawaii." The code-name "Grenada" appears in the BIOS version string.

Unlike older, more blatant re-brands, such as GeForce 8800 GT to 9800 GT, AMD did drop in a few changes. To begin with, the memory amount has been doubled on both cards, to 8 GB. The memory clock has been increased from 1250 MHz (5.00 GHz GDDR5-effective), to 1500 MHz (6.00 GDDR5-effective), resulting in memory bandwidth increase to 384 GB/s, up from 320 GB/s. The core clock speed on the R9 390X is 1050 MHz (up from 1000 MHz on R9 290X); and 1000 MHz on the R9 390 (up from 947 MHz on the R9 290).
Source: VideoCardz
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114 Comments on Radeon R9 390X and R9 390 to Feature Faster Memory, Core Over Predecessors

#26
jigar2speed
If this is the same exact chip than how is the power consumption down ???



:confused::confused::confused:
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#27
FYFI13
I'm so happy that i bought GTX970 instead of waiting for 390/390X. I guess so are current 290/290X owners. Fail AMD.
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#28
rooivalk
jigar2speedIf this is the same exact chip than how is the power consumption down ???
:confused::confused::confused:
208W is for GPU chip only, not for entire card.
290X is also 208w (exact number).

Kinda weird though, since 390X has slightly faster clock, shouldn't it affecting the power consumption, maybe a watt more?
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#29
64K
I've been thinking that the 390x just needs to compete with the GTX 980 at a reasonable price. The Fury cards are for competing with the 980 Ti. I think people think it's an easy thing to come up with a faster architecture on the same 28nm process. Maxwell is a great architecture and more efficient than Kepler or we wouldn't be setting the bar so high for Fury. If the Fury X can compete with the 980 Ti at a reasonable price then AMD has probably done all they can for now.

I think the 390x is going to sell well anyway. For every one of us that knows what it is there are probably a dozen others that don't read tech sites and will buy it anyway just because 390 is a bigger number than 290 so it must be better. ;)
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#30
mroofie
Prima.VeraAgree. In Europe and East Asian countries the price will be way over 400€.
Will nearly be double the price in my country xD
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#31
$ReaPeR$
haswrongthat would make fury x very future unproof. which i think it is, but not due to the memory, but i saw the collision simulation benchmark and it was half the performance of titan x.. and that sais it all. rip amd..
why do you have to be an a$$?? we all saw the leaked tests.. so what? untill there are some real world gaming benchmarks everything on performance is just speculation and hot air. go drink some coffee or eat a chocolate or something and stop b$ch$ng about things we cannot know yet. in the end of the day noone is forcing you to buy it, if you dont like it go buy the titan or the 980ti or whatever.
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#32
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
rooivalk208W is for GPU chip only, not for entire card.
290X is also 208w (exact number).

Kinda weird though, since 390X has slightly faster clock, shouldn't it affecting the power consumption, maybe a watt more?
I think XFX overclocked the card. I suspect your standard 390X will be running the same clock (1 GHz) as 290X.

That MSI picture shows 100 MHz overclock on the GPU and 275 MHz overclock on the memory.
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#33
$ReaPeR$
R-T-BBecause technology is generally supposed to march forward.

Don't get me wrong, my wallet loves that my 2 year old tech is running circles around all games in 1080p and will likely do it for 2+ more years. My brain however, tells me this isn't right...
Huh?
i agree mate, but what can you do... i supose they didnt try anything else because they are stuck with the 28nm node.. i dont really know, but i dont like the fact that if you want to play everything maxed out with decent frames you have to venture in the 400$+ market..
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#34
snakefist
...and all of those comments are relevant HOW?

We all knew what will happen, well at least I did, when 28nm was chosen. Of course people will buy those cards (3xx), just not the people you think of.

Nobody sane will replace 290x (or NVIDIA with similar capabilities, for that matter) with 390x. New buyers, ones who want upgrade over old existing tech, or jump a level in performance, will.

Perhaps 390x won't be labeled as 'noisy' anymore - and that's about it...

If I decide to upgrade my mid-range AMD card, I won't definitely buy the same model of the new generation. Or would with NVIDIA, for that matter.

Both companies made an effort to produce top-tier GPUs only, and will probably be reducing prices of the rest of the lineup graudally, as times passes by. Until real new architecture, based on 14/16nm arrives...

If someone wonders about 960 - well, that is just an 'experiment' - 'ok, we can make this also, but we won't design whole new line out of it'. In the price range the card is, it is nothing revolutionary - remember that until recently AMD had 'the best GPU which doesn't need auxiliary power'. I doubt they make more money on 960 than they do on other mid and low range GPUs.

The only group who SHOULD get excited (or disappointed) is a small one consisting of top-whatever-it-costs players (I imagine they are players with very high demands) - and they have to wait this painful 3-4 more days until benchmarks appear...

The rest of us will just have to continue with our lives, watch the price drops and buy 3xx instead 2xxx instead 7xxx when it happens
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#35
mirakul
haswrongthat would make fury x very future unproof. which i think it is, but not due to the memory, but i saw the collision simulation benchmark and it was half the performance of titan x.. and that sais it all. rip amd..
Again with this, sigh.

FuryX has 4 GB of HBM, not GDDR5. Some people keep comparing oranges with apples.

And do most people here buy cards for collision simulation?
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#36
Vayra86
mirakulAgain with this, sigh.

FuryX has 4 GB of HBM, not GDDR5. Some people keep comparing oranges with apples.

And do most people here buy cards for collision simulation?
So, in your tiny mind HBM suddenly allows more than 1GB of data on a 1GB VRAM size? Or it will swap textures SO fast that it can do the same with half the framebuffer? That is some pretty awesome interlacing then :D

Are you retarded or just plain stupid? 4GB = 4GB. Except when its a 970 you are talking about... :peace:
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#37
GhostRyder
Big disappointment in my book as I was hoping we would see GCN 1.2 (Tonga) under the hood with more Stream processors. Well at least they have refined the process enough where the memory and cores can be overclocked better by AIB's. Wonder how much better it overclocks compared to the 290X?

Still I will wait until we see more of these in the market and the drivers because I still am curious about these cards and these leaks...
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#38
RejZoR
GhostRyderBig disappointment in my book as I was hoping we would see GCN 1.2 (Tonga) under the hood with more Stream processors. Well at least they have refined the process enough where the memory and cores can be overclocked better by AIB's. Wonder how much better it overclocks compared to the 290X?

Still I will wait until we see more of these in the market and the drivers because I still am curious about these cards and these leaks...
I never even asked for more shaders. I'd be perfectly happy with exact same count, but with GCN 1.2. Not this fucking lazy disgrace with a fucking reflashed BIOS and extra 4GB of VRAM. They needed almost 2 years for this pile of bullshit? Like F U AMD.
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#39
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
jigar2speedIf this is the same exact chip than how is the power consumption down ???

:confused::confused::confused:
Power consumption ≠ TDP.
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#40
64K
RejZoRI never even asked for more shaders. I'd be perfectly happy with exact same count, but with GCN 1.2. Not this fucking lazy disgrace with a fucking reflashed BIOS and extra 4GB of VRAM. They needed almost 2 years for this pile of bullshit? Like F U AMD.
Look on the bright side. At least you know what it is. Most people buying it probably won't.
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#41
Ferrum Master
64KLook on the bright side. At least you know what it is. Most people buying it probably won't.
Are you talking about fast food or sausages? Most people buying dedicated cards know it, if not system builders ie shops know it... the percent that do the upgrades based on yellow snow sightings is quite rare...
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#42
happita
If this "re-branding" was the case all along, they just should've released all the cards < Fury and Fury X months ago to steal a few sales from Nvidia. THEN release the Fury/Fury-X in these next few days. Much needed sales lost because AMD wanted to launch the majority of their product line in one shot.

And while we're on the topic of rebrands, these cards have more memory and are overclocked by 50Mhz each. Makes me think back when 290/290X was launched at how bad the overheating issues were.
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#43
Ferrum Master
happitathese cards have more memory and are overclocked by 50Mhz each.
The fact is AIB parters had such cards with Hawaii too... 8GB and clocked higher... but still it does not touch the G80/G92 rebrand streak.
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#44
dados8756
what... if this just a joke ,it not funny anymore because april mop was over -_-" , im Radeon user ,but who care??? Stupid AMD...
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#45
RejZoR
If they released R9-390X back in October, I'd * maybe * buy it. But now, I might just as well wait some more for actual Artic Islands. If I've waited for so fucking long I can wait some more. And if they plan to pull this rebranding shit for the 3rd time with Artic Islands, they can just piss off. I don't need them to be around anymore then.

Now I'm off to eating some shoes and overclocking my HD7950...
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#46
v12dock
Block Caption of Rainey Street
If the price/performance is right who cares if its a re-brand
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#47
happita
v12dockIf the price/performance is right who cares if its a re-brand
Sure, the price/performance will be right....by 2016 or right before Arctic Islands comes out. I don't think prices will change much since there is no competition for Nvidia this generation. For people looking to upgrade, it's best to look out for some good 290/290X deals because I'm sure they will be aplenty.
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#48
GhostRyder
RejZoRI never even asked for more shaders. I'd be perfectly happy with exact same count, but with GCN 1.2. Not this fucking lazy disgrace with a fucking reflashed BIOS and extra 4GB of VRAM. They needed almost 2 years for this pile of bullshit? Like F U AMD.
I meant more shaders compared to the 285 (IE the same core count in the Hawaii Pro and XT).

Its definitely not a good thing, however I am still reserving my comments until I see it in the market more than these leaks/early sales. I am still a bit skeptical personally but that is just me...
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#49
RejZoR
Why would they bullshit us all this time? They could just openly say, we're using same shader count as with R9-290X but we're gonna smack some sweet GCN 1.2 love on it. And we'd go fucking insane screaming "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY". But instead I just want to scream two words that start with F and U. Aaargh it makes me mad. I was waiting almost 8 months for fucking nothing...
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#50
fullinfusion
Vanguard Beta Tester
Well isn't this a nice how dee do wake up..

A re-brand, great! Wtf is AMD doing over there besides a shitty rebrand on there 3 series.. And twice the memory plus higher clocks lol what a joke... Fu%k both my 290 and 290x both run the same clocks at stock.

So AMD, have you cooled this rebranded bastard down? Being built straight down to the last transistor, identical, I pretty much have no doubt in my mind these will be just as hot as there older brothers...
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