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Sapphire R9 390 Nitro 8GB Review

For the last week we have been testing and retesting all the video cards in this review with the latest 15.6 Catalyst and 353.30 Forceware drivers. We have also selected some new game sections to benchmark during our ‘real world runs’.

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.

Due to reader feedback we have changed the 1600p tests to 1440p, and we have also disabled Nvidia specific features such as Hairworks in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as it can have such a negative impact on partnering hardware.

Anti Aliasing is also now disabled in our tests at Ultra HD 4K as readers have indicated they don’t need it at such a high resolution.

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

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Cards on test:
Sapphire R9 295X2 (1,018 mhz core / 1,250 mhz memory)
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Nvidia Titan Z (706mhz core / 1,753 mhz memory)
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Gigabyte GTX980 Ti G1 Gaming (1,152mhz / 1,753 mhz memory)
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Nvidia Titan X (1,002 mhz core / 1,753 mhz memory)
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Nvidia GTX 980 Ti (1,000 mhz core / 1,753 mhz memory)
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Asus GTX980 Strix (1,178 mhz core / 1,753 mhz memory)
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Sapphire R9 390 X 8GB (1,055 mhz core / 1,500 mhz memory) & (1,144mhz core / 1631 mhz memory)
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Sapphire R9 290 X 8GB (1,020 mhz core / 1,375 mhz memory)
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Asus R9 290 Direct CU II ( 1,000 mhz core / 1,250 mhz memory)
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Asus R9 285 Strix (954 mhz core / 1,375 mhz memory)
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Palit GTX970 (1,051 mhz core / 1,753 mhz memory)
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Software:
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
Unigine Valley Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
3DMark
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark

Games:
Grid AutoSport
Tomb Raider
Grand Theft Auto 5
Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
Metro Last Light 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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18 comments

  1. All these benchmarks for games.. can anyone anywhere on the web give me information on using one of these cards in pro applications like Adobe Premiere Pro? I’m wondering how well the 8gb VRAM will help when scrubbing through an effect filled timeline, or if CUDA is still the way to go? I hear lots of opinions, but no testing results. Unfortunately I can’t afford to buy a card from either side and work it out myself.

  2. email me at zardon(at)kitguru.net ill try and help James.

  3. i wouldn’t mind knowing as well, i’m having to put together a workstation focused system for the first time

  4. Mads-Ejnar Kehlet

    When do GPU maker stop using “CTRL+C” “CTRL+V” and then rename?
    Not only AMD, Nvidia dose it also. but at lease the they go from 580 to 670.
    290x to 390x with 99% same card? then make something like 290x boost or anything else then 390x :/

  5. Thanks Allan, I have emailed you just now.

  6. valgarlienheart .

    Damn, kinda wished I waited on that 970 I got, this non x version seems to be an excellent value card. Who cares if it’s a rebrand, it’s still relavent.

  7. Nicholas Gagliardo

    Seriously though, what do you do with all those cards? ‘Cause the way I look at it, you could have a serious “make a college student’s day” type of deal here. After all, in Graduate school we suffer to do our part to contribute to society, a pat on the back in the process never hurt.

  8. Those chips arent the same thing. The GTX 670 is based on the GK104. You could say the same thing when nVidia moved from GTX 480 to GTX 580 which both were identical except some performance improvements and more shaders. Both are guilty of these practices and won’t go away any soon.

  9. I’d liked to have seen Fury X numbers in the graphs too…

  10. Yes, coming soon…… Bit of a backlog, sorry..

  11. Ahhh right, that’s great thanks 🙂

  12. Which card should i buy 39 or 970. I usually game at 1080p and use 550 watts PSU. Please advise anyone

  13. it would be great if 1080 P benchmarks were available

  14. 550 is not enought for the 390 acording to shappire. The 970 is your card.

  15. i just bought this card, but i’d really appreciate a compare between 390 nitro vs 970 g1, stock and oc.
    Can you help me?

  16. Ordered mine Yesterday, now I wait Oo

  17. hey, is cx600m is enough for this card(sapphire r9 390)?

  18. That psu isn’t very good.
    An xfx is much better.
    Anyway, 600W is plenty, unless you plan to OC and will use an OC’ed CPU.