Sapphire R9 390 Nitro 8GB (Rev 2 w/ backplate)

Maintaining our performance graphs has been a full time job in the last couple of months – Nvidia and AMD have been hard at work updating their drivers and in this review we test with AMD’s Crimson 15.11.1 driver and the Nvidia 359.06 WHQL driver. We also add in a new range of tests at 1080p to supplement the results at 1440p and Ultra HD 4K resolutions.

We have also selected some new game sections to benchmark during our ‘real world runs’.

Additionally, even though it is not close to being finished, we wanted to include some findings from an early access build of the (Windows 10) Direct X 12 capable Ashes of The Singularity by Stardock (website HERE) – this uses the Nitrous game engine. We are confident this is not an indication of how the game will run when it reaches retail at a future date, but still, it is interesting to showcase today. You can buy it from STEAM, over HERE.

If you want to read more about our test system, or are interested in buying the same Kitguru Test Rig, check out our article with links on this page. We are using an Asus PB287Q 4k and Apple 30 inch Cinema HD monitor for this review today.

If you have other suggestions please email me directly at zardon(at)kitguru.net.

Sapphire R9 390 Nitro 8GB (Rev 2 w/ backplate). (1040mhz core / 1500 mhz memory) & (1,133mhz core / 1637 mhz memory)

Comparison Cards on test:

Powercolor PCS+ Radeon R9 380X Myst Edition 4GB (1,020 mhz core / 1,475 mhz memory)
Sapphire Radeon R9 Nitro 380X (1,040 mhz core / 1,500 mhz memory)
ASUS Strix R9 380X DirectCU II OC (1,030 mhz core / 1425 mhz memory)
PowerColor Radeon R9 390 PCS+ (1,010 mhz core / 1,500 mhz memory) & (1,150 mhz core / 1,693 mhz memory).
Sapphire R9 295X2 (1,018 mhz core / 1,250mhz memory)
AMD Fury X (1,050 mhz core / 500 mhz memory)
Nvidia GTX Titan Z (706 mhz core / 1,753 mhz memory)
Nvidia GTX Titan X (1,000 mhz core / 1,753 mhz memory)
Asus GTX980 Strix (1,178 mhz core / 1,753 mhz memory)
Nvidia GTX980 Ti (1000 mhz core / 1,753 mhz memory)
Palit GTX970 (1,051 mhz core / 1,753 mhz memory)
Sapphire R9 390X Tri-X 8GB (1,055 mhz core / 1,500 mhz memory)
Sapphire R9 390 Nitro 8GB (1,010 mhz core / 1,500 mhz memory)
Sapphire R9 380 Nitro 4GB (985 mhz core / 1,450 mhz memory)
Palit GTX960 Super JetStream (1,279 mhz core / 1,800 mhz memory)

Software:
Windows 10 64 bit
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
3DMark 11
3DMark
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark

Games:
Ashes Of the Singularity DX12 mode (early access build)
Grid AutoSport
Tomb Raider
Grand Theft Auto 5
Metro 2033 Redux

We perform under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.

Game descriptions edited with courtesy from Wikipedia.

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