Sapphire Radeon R9 Nitro 380X Review

We said it in our launch review earlier this month but it seems unusual that AMD are able to target a price point that Nvidia are currently neglecting, but that is how it still stands today. Online retail stores have a GTX960 or R9 380 available for £150 or enthusiast gamers can make the jump to £250 for a GTX970 or R9 390. AMD are currently capitalising on this gap in the market at the £200 sweet spot.

This might not be the case for much longer however based on information that has been leaked in recent weeks. The ‘GTX960 Ti' might fill that gap for Nvidia partners. This is not yet officially confirmed but you can read more HERE.

As we would expect from AMD's biggest partner, the Sapphire Radeon R9 Nitro 380X replaces the reference cooling system with a class leading dual fan cooler which maintained gaming temperatures at 65c in our environment. Noise emissions are minimal, even under extended heavy load. This would actually be a good choice for a powerful media system build – the fans don't spin at all until a moderate load demand is made.

You will be able to buy the Sapphire Radeon R9 Nitro 380X from Overclockers UK for £193.99 inc vat HERE.

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Pros:

• AMD occupy the lone performance slot at £200.
• good out of the box overclock.
• memory is overclocked.
• quality backplate included.
• zero coil whine.

Cons:

• not the most exciting release from AMD, but it targets a price point.
• power demand is greater than a GTX970 under load.

Kitguru says: For £200 the Sapphire R9 Nitro 380X deserves serious consideration. We rate the cooling system very highly.

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