Sapphire Nitro R9 390 8GB Graphics Card Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The Sapphire Nitro R9 390 is available in the UK from Overclockers UK for £275.99 and $329.99 from Newegg in the US.

Overview

Sapphire has introduced some amazing features and pushed this card as far as it could go with the Nitro R9 380. The fact that the card features 8GB VRAM is simply amazing, the card itself lacks the power to fully utilise the 8GB in gaming; however, this would be a very good option to run in crossfire as VRAM is generally the limiting factor.

The performance on this is a step in the right direction, it outpaces the previous R9 290 and provides a huge amount of VRAM ready for the more demanding games such as GTA V and Shadow or Mordor. The Nitro cooling design is a great cooling solution, it is very subtle, quite and keeps the card cool under load. This card even runs passively under moderate load and light gaming, perfect for an open case computer.

The overclocked performance of this card is lack luster, it just proves that Sapphire have released this card at the boundary of its capabilities; giving you the consumer the best possible performance that the R9 390 can offer.

Pros

• Amazing cooling capabilities
• Very quiet operation
• Great performance/ price ratio
• 8GB VRAM allows for future-proofing

Cons

• Lack of a backplate really detracts from the premium finish

“The R9 390 is a great step up from the Rx 200 range and proves a stable platform for gaming at a great price.“

Thank you to Sapphire for providing this review sample.