Sapphire R9 300 Series Review Roundup

Sapphire R9 390 Nitro 8GB

Manufacturer: Sapphire Technology
UK price (as reviewed): Approx. £270 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): MSRP $340 (ex Tax)


The second Nitro Series graphics card from Sapphire, using the R9 390 GPU and 8GB of VRAM, retails for £270 in the UK market. Sapphire has chosen to add a 10MHz frequency increase to the reference GPU clock speed, leaving the final clock speed at 1,010MHz, but the memory remains untouched at 6GHz.


The Sapphire R9 390 Nitro uses a triple-fan cooling solution with 10mm heat pipes based on the Tri-X cooler and this maintains a dual-slot form factor, which gives Sapphire an edge over many rivals that opted for 2.5- or 3-slot solutions. Maintaining a dual-slot design does increase the length, however, which is 308mm, or approximately 12.13 inches.


There is no backplate fitted which is a little disappointing since rival R9 390s from other vendors in the same price bracket, or lower, do include one. Sapphire claims the decision to not include a backplate helps keep pricing down but for such a premium GPU we'd still like to see one included, particularly as aesthetics are a large part of the PC gaming ethos.


Two 8 pin PCIe connectors provide power for the R9 390 Nitro allowing for up to 375W to be supplied to the GPU. Display connectivity is DisplayPort-heavy; three ports are deployed, as well as a single HDMI and DVI.

Sapphire R9 390X Tri-X 8GB

Manufacturer: Sapphire Technology
UK price (as reviewed): Approx. £350 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): MSRP $430 (ex Tax)


The last graphics card in this roundup review is the Sapphire R9 390X Tri-X which comes to market for approximately £350. Sapphire adds a measly 5MHz to the reference GPU clock speed, bumping things up to 1,055MHz while the stock memory frequency of 6,000MHz is left untouched.


The backplate-less theme continues with the Sapphire R9 390X Tri-X and this decision is disappointing for the same reasons as before - rival products in an equivalent price bracket include a backplate where Sapphire does not. In terms of rigidity Sapphire's graphics cards are perfectly functional without a backplate due to the reinforced structure of the cooling design but on an aesthetic level the omission of a backplate does, in our opinion, lose something.


The I/O of the R9 390X Tri-X is identical to the R9 390 Nitro - a single DVI and HDMI with a trio of DisplayPort.