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MSI R9 380 Gaming 4G

MSI R9 380 Gaming 4G Review – Like all of the cards in AMD’s new R9 300 series, the R9 380 is actually a rebadged variant of an earlier product. In this case it’s the R9 285, as it uses the same Tonga-design GPU within. Thankfully this is a newer GPU design than the one found in the R7 370, as it’s built upon the GCN 1.2 architecture. All of AMD’s flagship GPU features are supported by this design, so there’ no fear that you’ll miss out on FreeSync, full DX12 compatibility or hardware accelerated video above 1080p.

MSI-R9-380-Gaming-4G MSI R9 380 Gaming 4G

MSI R9 380 Gaming 4G, More rebranding shenanigans

Looking at the specs, it appears that the R9 380’s GPU is absolutely identical to the R9 285, with one small exception. Likely as a result of maturing processor manufacturing, AMD has been able to increase the base and Boost speeds of the GPU, with a Boost speed of 970MHz in the newer product (up from 918MHz in the original). MSI has eked out just 30MHz more in its version of the product with the GPU running at 1000MHz in Boost mode, provided you set the MSI software to OC mode (which we did for all of our benchmarks). 4GB of onboard GDDR5 memory makes this a suitable candidate for 1080p gaming.

This card beat the GTX 960 in two of our tests, by an average of around 17%. However, it also lost to it in one test, but only just. Considering it costs 16% more than the GTX 960, choosing a clear winner between the two isn’t easy. However, we’re going to give NVIDIA’s GTX 960 the nod due to its superior driver support (we had many issues with AMD’s drivers) and added features.

Pros

  • Solid 1080p performance
  • Low fan noise
  • Good value

Cons

  • No new features compared to R9 285

MSI R9 380 Gaming 4G Specifications

  • Graphics Processing Unit AMD Radeon™ R9 380
  • Interface PCI Express x16 3.0
  • Boost / Base Core Clock
    1000 MHz (OC Mode)
    980 MHz (Gaming Mode)
    970 MHz (Silent Mode)
  • Memory Size (MB) 4096
  • Memory Type GDDR5
  • Memory Interface 256 bits
  • Memory Clock Speed (MHz) 5800 (OC Mode) / 5700
  • DVI Connectors 2 (Dual-link DVI-I x 1, Dual-link DVI-D x 1), Max Resolution: 2560 x 1600 @60 Hz.
  • HDMI Connectors 1 (version 1.4a)
    Max Resolution: 4096×2160 @24 Hz (1.4a)
  • DisplayPort 1 (version 1.2)
    Max Resolution: 4096×2160 @60 Hz
  • Maximum Displays 3
  • HDCP Support Y
  • DirectX Version Support 12
  • OpenGL Version Support 4.4
  • Multi-GPU Technology CrossFire™
  • Card Dimension(mm) 268 x 138 x 40
  • Card Weight (g) 943
  • Power consumption (W) 190
  • Power Connectors 6-pin x2
  • Accessories
    DVI to VGA Dongle x1
  • Product page : http://www.msi.com/product/vga/R9-380-GAMING-4G.html

2 thoughts on “MSI R9 380 Gaming 4G

  1. Szymonista says:

    Agree, this GPU is awesome in full-HD and very very silent 🙂

  2. Julianna says:

    That said, we know that many gamers, if not most, simply cannot afford to keep the latest high-end hardware in their system. So for most of the marketplace, finding a sweet spot of a gaming card that comes in around the $200 $250 range is the key, as it should provide suitable performance for most needs without breaking the bank. And that is indeed where the R9 380 comes into play.

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