AMD Outs Radeon R9 380X for 1440P Gaming
AMD just lifted the embargo about the much anticipated Radeon R9 380X Graphics Card – Completing their mid-range to high-end GFX card line-up, filling in the missing piece of the puzzle and is most probably the last AMD card to be released this 2015.
The Radeon R9 380X, according to AMD, is their Nvidia GTX 960 killer, pitting the card against it at 1440P (WQHD: 2560 x 1440) gaming and of course, on AMD’s chart at the highly anticipated Star Wars: Battlefront, the AMD card wins by a mile. AMD told us that it is their sweet spot graphics for the 1440P crowd, and supports AMD’s latest features. That includes DirectX 12 support, AMD FreeSync technology, Frame Rate Target Control, and Virtual Super Resolution support.
The card seems to be a nice step up from the R9 380 non X version, which is most probably due to additional Texture Mapping Units (128 vs 112) and a faster core clock speed (1000 MHz capable?). We cannot be fully certain about the clock speeds, since AMD usually conforms to their reference clocks and lets the AIB partners to explore the chips. By the way, an AMD card with an X signifies that it is the fastest for the segment usually taking up the XT moniker of the GPU’s codename – i.e. Antigua PRO for the 380 and Antigua XT for the 380X. The AMD R9 380X features a 190W TDP, with 4GB of GDDR5 memory, and DirectX 12, Vulkan, and Mantle API support.
As far as variety goes, 7 AIB partners are already working on their own models of the R9 380X. It appears that a dual fan cooling solution is recommended, and it also looks like form factor is similar to what the R9 380 has which is quite nice as seen on our review. Known models as of date from the AIB partners are as follows:
UPDATE: According to AMD, pricing start at $229USD, with AIB partner OC models expected to start at $239USD. The AMD Radeon R9 380X is now available on various retail stores. The card will fully support AMD’s Crimson Software Suite which is slated to launch very soon.
