While we're going to have to wait a little while longer before we see any of the new Fiji-based Radeon R9 series graphics cards, AMD's partners are unveiling their new Radeon Rx 300-series cards. Asus is starting off with five models – two Strix R7 370s, the Strix R9 380, the Strix R9 390, and the top-tier Strix R9 390X.
With all the cards being in the Strix series, you can expect them to have very comparable feature sets. They are all built using Asus' new Auto-Extreme fully-automated manufacturing process and offer the features we've come to expect from Strix cards, including a mild overclock, a high-end cooler with a fancy backplate, more elaborate than standard PCB circuitry, and a fan profile that will bring the fans to a stop when the cards are running at lower temperatures for more silent operation.
Asus even paid attention to little details, such as reminding you to plug in the power cables. If you have them plugged in, you'll get a white or green LED shining above the connector, but if you've forgotten, it will shine red.
Take the Strix R7 370, for example. It is an upper mid-tier card, and Asus' version comes with a 5-phase VRM circuit. In its lineup, Asus will have two R7 370 cards: one with a 2 GB frame buffer, and another with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory. The GPUs on these cards run at 1050 MHz (1070 MHz in OC Mode), which is a 75 MHz boost over a reference card, and 95 in OC mode. The memory runs at 5.6 GHz effective.
A step above that is the Strix R9 380, which is built with an impressive 8-phase Super Alloy Power II power delivery circuit. Standard, the GPU runs at 990 MHz (which is a mere 20 MHz over stock), but it will run at 1010 MHz if you run the card in OC mode. The 2 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 5.5 GHz over a 256-bit memory interface.
Asus' R9 390 and R9 390X Strix cards offer a somewhat different design, with a new updated DirectCU III cooler. This cooler has not two, but three fans, and a new heatsink and shroud design. The heatsink has a generous five heatpipes, two of which are a respectable 10 mm thick. Memory and VRM cooling contact points are molded into this heatsink, and the back of the card has a backplate for additional cooling. Both of the cards also have an 8-phase Super Alloy Power II VRM circuit.
The Strix R9 390 runs at 1050 MHz, and the top-tier Strix R9 390X runs at 1070 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on both cards runs at an effective speed of 6000 MHz over a 512-bit memory interface.
That's it for Asus' lineup. The cards should be hitting shelves any moment now, although Asus hasn't decided on its prices just yet.
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