[section label=”Prices and Where to Buy”]
[signoff icon=”dollar”]
Price / Where to Buy:
US – Approx. $340
[/signoff] [section label=”Introduction”]AMD has recently launched their new series of graphics card and similar to the launch of last generation we’re going to be seeing a new GPU debut crowning the new series which was released on a later date. For the remaining of the product stack though we’re getting a rebrands from the R7 sub-series all the way to the R9 390 and R9 390X. That means the formerly HD7900 which in turn became the R9 280X/R9 280 now becomes the R9 380X/R9 380. That said, the former flagship R9 290X and R9 290 now move to fill the mainstream to upper-mainstream segment, carrying the rebadged codename of Grenada replacing its former Hawaii naming.
Today we’ll be reviewing the performance segment of AMD’s Radeon lineup with both the R9 390X and R9 390 in our bench for today. In this review we’ll take a look at the PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ 8GB graphics card. Read on!
[section label=”About the Radeon R9 390X/390″]About the Radeon R9 390X / R9 390
As mentioned, the new Radeon R300 series are just rebadges of their old-gen counterpart with most of the spec not changing aside from the larger framebuffer and GPU namechange. That said, the R9 390X retains the 2816 shader units, 64 ROPs but get double the memory with 8GB running off a 512-bit bus. Frequencies for the R9 390X are also increased from its predecessor running at up to 1050Mhz core clock and a 1500Mhz memory clock. The Raden R9 390 meanwhile rocks 2560 shader units, 64 units, with a similar 8GB graphics memory on 512bit bus with frequencies bumped up a bit from the R9 290 at up to 1000Mhz base clock and 1500Mhz. The Radeon R9 390X is tagged with an SRP of $430, and the R9 390 has an SRP of $330.
[section label=”About PowerColor R9 390 PCS+”]About the PowerColor R9 390 PCS+
PowerColor is one of AMD’s most active AIB partner and is well-known for pushing their engineering technology, going at it in their own way in creating their own dual-GPUs. But for the most part of their recent product port folio, the PCS+ series of graphics card has been the most prolific with the cooler design evolving from one generation to the next and this time around we have a new-generation of PowerColor’s PCS+ card. The PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ features all the specs mentioned above but with the PCS+ cooler offering much more efficient cooling than the reference AMD cooler, offering improved performance.
The PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ receives a small factory OC of 1010Mhz core clock with everything remaining unchanged. The card is priced also just a bit higher with an SRP of $340.
[section label=”Closer Look”]Closer Look
The PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ graphics card most notable feature is its custom-cooler. Clad in black and silver, this 2.5 slot card looks really muscular and three fans keep it cool under load, spinning down and stopping when the load is manageable. PowerColor equips this card with a backlate with the R9 390 naming printed on it. This is a nice touch and gives the card a really premium look along with its black PCB and sand-blasted shroud. The R9 390 requires an 8-pin and a 6-pin PCI-e power connector.
[section label=”Overclocking”]Overclocking
Overclocking any graphics card is pretty straightforward nowadays provided you know what to do and given that most companies also have their own overclocking software, makes it so much more approachable. We use the latest PowerColor PowerUp Tuner for this test.
Overclocking the R9 series of cards have been somewhat of a challenge for us. These cards run at these clocks when they can rather than as needed and is mostly affected by temperatures. In this regard, an effective cooler will easily see the card meet its rated GPU clock most of the times than a poorly cooled ones. We’ll talk more about that later and focus on the overclocking experience on the PowerColor R9 390 PCS+. We hit a wall past 1110Mhz and the card won’t OC any further even with a voltage bump. Final OC clocks have us at 1110Mhz GPU clock and 1600Mhz memory clock.
[section label=”Performance Testing 1080P”]PERFORMANCE
Test Setup
Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K 4.4Ghz
Motherboard: MSI Z77 Mpower
Memory: Kingston HyperX Beast DDR3-2400 16GB
Storage: Kingston HyperX FURY 240GB
PSU: Seasonic P1000
Cooling: Custom loop (XSPC Raystorm block, XSPC D5 Dual Bayres, BlackIce Stealth GT 240 rad)
Monitor: LG 42UB820T UltraHD TV
VGA: PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ 8GB
We test our graphics card with a full-level playthrough of our selected game or the games’ built-in benchmark tool. We record the run with Fraps. Game settings are indicated in the charts. Resolutions are shown in the charts. Unlike our standard benchmarks. For this tests, we’ve changed a few things so some of games that we follow built-in options we’ve retained results from other results but for those other games that we’ve changed options, we’ve provided newer results and indicated settings also.
We basically run two configurations for our reviews: for high-end cards (980/Titan X/290X/780Ti) we run maximum in-game settings, for mainstream (GTX 960/970) and last generation cards we run default presets. AA is turned off in all 4K HD results unless defined by settings or indicated in graph. We will start including The Witcher 3 starting with our launch day review of the GTX 980 Ti so please bear with us as we grow that chart.
FullHD (1920×1080)
[tabs] [tab title=”Battlefield 4″]Battlefield 4 is one of the hottest titles of 2013 and continues to prove itself a worthy game. Based on DICE’s Frostbite Engine 3, this game’s lush details and visuals are just stunning but can really stress any modern GPU. Level tested is the escape from Baku with wide open space and collapsing building showing what the Frostbite 3 engine can do.
The most visually intense game to ever been made. Prophet is back to take on the Ceph and Cell after a long sleep and the world isn’t what it was when before he got frozen. CryEngine 3 is behind this beautiful beast that will put a lot of systems to their knees. The opening level shows off the particle and water rendering of the engine.
The reboot of the gaming phenomenon Tomb Raider puts players in Lara Croft’s hiking boots as she explores the ruin of Yamatai in this origins game. Powered by a modified Crystal Engine, the game features TressFX which creates beautifully rendered hair animation.
The most popular game on Steam and the biggest competition in eSports; DOTA 2 is powered by the Source engine. The game is fairly light on low to medium settings but maxed out with heavy action on screen especially during clashes can really stress some systsems.
We use the built-in timedemo and benchmarking tool. DOTA2 only shows average FPS so we will be reflecting that in this test. Our timedemo features a heavy clash in the bottom lane for the maximum real-world system load the game can generate. With the recent visual update, DOTA2 has received some graphic makeover that adds a bit of hit for the system and all our date are updated to reflect this.
Batman: Arkham Origins is the prequel to the highly successful Arkham series of Batman games from RockSteady. Rocking Unreal Engine 3, the game has superb detail and puts a decent load on modern systems.
Ubisoft’s hacker action puts you in the shoes of Aiden Pearce as you piece together a crime that has been haunting you since its occurrence. Rage through Chicago as presented by Ubisoft with its Disrupt engine utilizing vast video memory for high-resolution textures for visually stunning graphics.
CD Projekt Red’s latest installment in the Witcher saga features one of the most graphically intense offering the company has to date. As Geralt of Rivia, slay monsters, beasts and men as you unravel the mysteries of your past. Vast worlds and lush sceneries make this game a visual feast and promises to make any system crawl at its highest settings.
2560×1440
[tabs] [tab title=”Battlefield 4″]Battlefield 4 is one of the hottest titles of 2013 and continues to prove itself a worthy game. Based on DICE’s Frostbite Engine 3, this game’s lush details and visuals are just stunning but can really stress any modern GPU. Level tested is the escape from Baku with wide open space and collapsing building showing what the Frostbite 3 engine can do.
The most visually intense game to ever been made. Prophet is back to take on the Ceph and Cell after a long sleep and the world isn’t what it was when before he got frozen. CryEngine 3 is behind this beautiful beast that will put a lot of systems to their knees. The opening level shows off the particle and water rendering of the engine.
The reboot of the gaming phenomenon Tomb Raider puts players in Lara Croft’s hiking boots as she explores the ruin of Yamatai in this origins game. Powered by a modified Crystal Engine, the game features TressFX which creates beautifully rendered hair animation.
The most popular game on Steam and the biggest competition in eSports; DOTA 2 is powered by the Source engine. The game is fairly light on low to medium settings but maxed out with heavy action on screen especially during clashes can really stress some systsems.
We use the built-in timedemo and benchmarking tool. DOTA2 only shows average FPS so we will be reflecting that in this test. Our timedemo features a heavy clash in the bottom lane for the maximum real-world system load the game can generate.
Batman: Arkham Origins is the prequel to the highly successful Arkham series of Batman games from RockSteady. Rocking Unreal Engine 3, the game has superb detail and puts a decent load on modern systems.
Ubisoft’s hacker action puts you in the shoes of Aiden Pearce as you piece together a crime that has been haunting you since its occurrence. Rage through Chicago as presented by Ubisoft with its Disrupt engine utilizing vast video memory for high-resolution textures for visually stunning graphics.
CD Projekt Red’s latest installment in the Witcher saga features one of the most graphically intense offering the company has to date. As Geralt of Rivia, slay monsters, beasts and men as you unravel the mysteries of your past. Vast worlds and lush sceneries make this game a visual feast and promises to make any system crawl at its highest settings.
4K UltraHD
[tabs] [tab title=”Battlefield 4″]Battlefield 4 is one of the hottest titles of 2013 and continues to prove itself a worthy game. Based on DICE’s Frostbite Engine 3, this game’s lush details and visuals are just stunning but can really stress any modern GPU. Level tested is the escape from Baku with wide open space and collapsing building showing what the Frostbite 3 engine can do.
The most visually intense game to ever been made. Prophet is back to take on the Ceph and Cell after a long sleep and the world isn’t what it was when before he got frozen. CryEngine 3 is behind this beautiful beast that will put a lot of systems to their knees. The opening level shows off the particle and water rendering of the engine.
The reboot of the gaming phenomenon Tomb Raider puts players in Lara Croft’s hiking boots as she explores the ruin of Yamatai in this origins game. Powered by a modified Crystal Engine, the game features TressFX which creates beautifully rendered hair animation.
The most popular game on Steam and the biggest competition in eSports; DOTA 2 is powered by the Source engine. The game is fairly light on low to medium settings but maxed out with heavy action on screen especially during clashes can really stress some systsems.
We use the built-in timedemo and benchmarking tool. DOTA2 only shows average FPS so we will be reflecting that in this test. Our timedemo features a heavy clash in the bottom lane for the maximum real-world system load the game can generate.
Batman: Arkham Origins is the prequel to the highly successful Arkham series of Batman games from RockSteady. Rocking Unreal Engine 3, the game has superb detail and puts a decent load on modern systems.
Ubisoft’s hacker action puts you in the shoes of Aiden Pearce as you piece together a crime that has been haunting you since its occurrence. Rage through Chicago as presented by Ubisoft with its Disrupt engine utilizing vast video memory for high-resolution textures for visually stunning graphics.
CD Projekt Red’s latest installment in the Witcher saga features one of the most graphically intense offering the company has to date. As Geralt of Rivia, slay monsters, beasts and men as you unravel the mysteries of your past. Vast worlds and lush sceneries make this game a visual feast and promises to make any system crawl at its highest settings.
TEMPERATURE & POWER CONSUMPTION
To measure both power consumption and heat, we stress the video card and record the peak values for heat and wattage. We use default values on the cards and stress test them using a Kombustor 3’s Lake of Titans X64 test at 1080p fullscreen.
[one_half]
Curiously, the PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ consumes a bit more energy than the 390X in our tests. We attribute this to the great cooling potential of the PowerColor PCS+ cooler which keeps our card at an incredibly low 69*C. This is the first time we’ve seen such temps from a top-range card in a while so we’re really impressed at how PowerColor designed their cooler.
[section label=”Conclusion”]
CONCLUSION
Let’s break down the verdict:
Performance. The R9 390 performs nicely in 1080p and 1440p, managing to put out some good numbers versus more powerful cards. Even with the immense 8GB of memory though, it doesn’t help the R9 390 handle 4K resolution very much and puts out less then playable frame rates even on AMD optimized titles.
Build Quality. The PowerColor Radeon R9 390 PCS+ is one solid card. It feels well-built and its cooling potential shows just how much power the large heatsink can put out. PowerColor also did a good job included a backplate and black PCB in this card showing the company is ready for the high-end market. The card also performs very quiet and no noticeable noise even in high-loads. We’d like to point out that PowerColor could’ve went a bit further and maintained a 2-slot design to make this card multi-GPU friendly. As it is, largely spaced PCI-e slots are need to use it but stand-alone its no problem.
Functionality. The Radeon R9 390 and 390X now sit comfortably in AMD’s performance line and obviously target those who are eyeing the GTX970. All in all, the card offers decent performance in 1080p and 1440p with a larger framebuffer. This could help especially for multi-display scenarios where tons of stuff need to be onscreen for you.
Bundle. Nothing special. No games. Seriously?
Value. At $340, the PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ is a solid offer especially if you’re not too particular about the details like power draw to be more specific.
All in all the PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ is a one well-made card. At its price, its easily a top choice for anyone banking on getting a new 1080p GPU for modern AAA games. PowerColor did an awesome job with its cooler and its simply the most outstanding feature we can name for this graphics card. We’d also like to note PowerColor’s decision to include a backplate despite the pricing of the card where the competition skimps on it completely at this segment.
[signoff icon=”dollar”]
Price / Where to Buy:
US – Approx. $340
[/signoff] [section label=”Award”]If you’re looking for a well-cooled Radeon graphics card for 1080p and 1440p gaming, the PowerColor Radeon R9 390 PCS+ 8GB graphics card is a great choice.
PowerColor backs the R9 390 PCS+ a 2-year warranty. We award the R9 390 PCS+ our B2G Editor’s Choice Award!
would be awesome to grab a hold of it :) power to powercolor :)