Introduction
A trip to Grenada
Today we are taking a closer look at HIS Radeon R9 390X. The card is based on Grenada XT graphics processor with 2816 Stream Cores. Grenada is a codename for refreshed Hawaii silicon, which according to AMD has went through some architectural changes. Here is what AMD has to say about their new GPU:
AMD is pleased to bring you the new R9 390 series which has been in development for a little over a year now. To clarify, the new R9 390 comes standard with 8GB of GDDR5 memory and outpaces the 290X.
Some of the areas AMD focused on are as follows:
- Manufacturing process optimizations allowing AMD to increase the engine clock by 50MHz on both 390 and 390X while maintaining the same power envelope
- New high density memory devices allow the memory interface to be re-tuned for faster performance and more bandwidth
- Memory clock increased from 1250MHz to 1500MHz on both 390 and 390X
- Memory bandwidth increased from 320GB/s to 384GB/s
- 8GB frame buffer is standard on ALL cards, not just the OC versions
- 3. Complete re-write of the GPUs power management micro-architecture
- Under “worse case” power virus applications, the 390 and 390X have a similar power envelope to 290X
- Under “typical” gaming loads, power is expected to be lower than 290X while performance is increased
AMD Radeon R9 390X 8GB — designed for 4K gaming
AMD Radeon R9 390X is advertised as graphics card for 4K (3840×2160) resolution.
The Radeon™ R9 390X and R9 390, are best used in 4K gaming applications. 4K is the present and future of gaming, and as such AMD is dedicated to providing the premiere 4K gaming experience.
At the time of writing, Radeon R9 390X is the second fastest graphics card from Radeon 300 series. It will soon take third position as the new Radeon R9 Fury with Fiji PRO graphics processor will take its place. The R9 390X of course will remain at its current price tag, which is very competitive against GTX 980.
Radeon R9 390X has been equipped with 8GB memory which means, any resolution above the most popular one 1920×1080, is where R9 390X should tackle GeForce hardware more aggressively.
Grenada processor supports all AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN 1.1) technologies including: FreeSync, Mantle, VSR, FRTC and more importantly DirectX12.
In this review we will be comparing R9 390X to R9 290X and its direct competitor — GTX 980.
Official performance of R9 390 series versus GM204-based models in 4K settings
