RX 480 vs R9 390X

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Combined performance score

R9 390X
24.33
+9.2%

R9 390X outperforms RX 480 by 9% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in performance ranking206228
Place by popularitynot in top-10093
Value for money12.6212.02
ArchitectureGCN (2011−2017)Polaris (2016−2019)
GPU code nameGrenada XTPolaris 10 Ellesmere
GCN generationno data4th Gen
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferencereference
Release date16 June 2015 (8 years old)29 June 2016 (7 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$429 $229
Current price$19.99 (0x MSRP)$174 (0.8x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 390X has 5% better value for money than RX 480.

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores28162304
Compute unitsno data36
Core clock speedno data1120 MHz
Boost clock speed1050 MHz1266 MHz
Number of transistors6,200 million5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)275 Watt150 Watt
Texture fill rate184.8182.3
Floating-point performance5,914 gflops5,834 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus supportPCIe 3.0n/a
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length275 mm241 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin, 1 x 8-pin1x 6-pin
Bridgeless CrossFire11

Memory

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
High bandwidth memory (HBM)-no data
Maximum RAM amount0 MB8 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1050 MHz8000 MHz
Memory bandwidth384 GB/s224 GB/s
Shared memory--

Video outputs and ports

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Eyefinity+1
Number of Eyefinity displays6no data
HDMI+2.0
DisplayPort support+1.4HDR

Technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

AppAcceleration-n/a
CrossFire11
Enduro-n/a
FRTCno data1
FreeSync1+
HD3D-n/a
LiquidVRno data1
PowerTune++
TressFXno data1
TrueAudio+n/a
ZeroCore-+
UVDno data+
VCE++
DDMA audio+no data

API support

List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectXDirectX® 12DirectX® 12
Shader Model6.36.4
OpenGL4.64.5
OpenCL2.02.0
Vulkan++
Mantle+n/a

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

R9 390X 24.33
+9.2%
RX 480 22.29

R9 390X outperforms RX 480 by 9% in our combined benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

R9 390X 9432
+9.2%
RX 480 8639

R9 390X outperforms RX 480 by 9% in Passmark.

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

R9 390X 35807
RX 480 39552
+10.5%

RX 480 outperforms R9 390X by 10% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

R9 390X 17944
+0.1%
RX 480 17919

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

R9 390X 12389
+1.7%
RX 480 12186

R9 390X outperforms RX 480 by 2% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

R9 390X 74351
+3%
RX 480 72213

R9 390X outperforms RX 480 by 3% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 8%

R9 390X 318024
RX 480 383333
+20.5%

RX 480 outperforms R9 390X by 21% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD91
+16.7%
78
−16.7%
1440p55−60
+1.9%
54
−1.9%
4K47
+34.3%
35
−34.3%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+11.1%
35−40
−11.1%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 45−50
−20.8%
58
+20.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+10.3%
35−40
−10.3%
Battlefield 5 75−80
+6.8%
70−75
−6.8%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 60−65
+10.3%
55−60
−10.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+11.1%
35−40
−11.1%
Far Cry 5 60−65
+8.5%
55−60
−8.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 60−65
+6.7%
60−65
−6.7%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
−23.5%
100
+23.5%
Hitman 3 70−75
+10.6%
65−70
−10.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+8.3%
45−50
−8.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
−72.5%
69
+72.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55
−22.2%
66
+22.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
+9.3%
40−45
−9.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 45−50
−2.1%
49
+2.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+10.3%
35−40
−10.3%
Battlefield 5 75−80
+6.8%
70−75
−6.8%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 60−65
+82.9%
35
−82.9%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+11.1%
35−40
−11.1%
Far Cry 5 60−65
+8.5%
55−60
−8.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 60−65
+6.7%
60−65
−6.7%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
−14.8%
93
+14.8%
Hitman 3 70−75
+10.6%
65−70
−10.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+8.3%
45−50
−8.3%
Metro Exodus 40−45
−2.5%
41
+2.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+17.6%
34
−17.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55
−5.6%
57
+5.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 76
−2.6%
78
+2.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
+9.3%
40−45
−9.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 45−50
+37.1%
35
−37.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+10.3%
35−40
−10.3%
Battlefield 5 75−80
+6.8%
70−75
−6.8%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+11.1%
35−40
−11.1%
Far Cry 5 60−65
+8.5%
55−60
−8.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 60−65
−7.8%
69
+7.8%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+5.2%
77
−5.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 41
−7.3%
44
+7.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
+9.3%
40−45
−9.3%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+8.8%
30−35
−8.8%
Hitman 3 40−45
+10.8%
35−40
−10.8%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
+6.7%
30−33
−6.7%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+9.1%
21−24
−9.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 18−20
−16.7%
21
+16.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−35
+10.3%
27−30
−10.3%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+8.3%
24−27
−8.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+14.3%
21−24
−14.3%
Battlefield 5 50−55
+8%
50−55
−8%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+10.5%
35−40
−10.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 45−50
−6.4%
50
+6.4%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+11.1%
45−50
−11.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 27−30
+11.5%
24−27
−11.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 18−20
+18.8%
16−18
−18.8%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+11.8%
16−18
−11.8%
Hitman 3 21−24
+9.5%
21−24
−9.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 16−18
+14.3%
14−16
−14.3%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+0%
15
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+8.3%
12−14
−8.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
−5.9%
18
+5.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 29
+7.4%
27
−7.4%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−13.3%
17
+13.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+8.3%
12−14
−8.3%
Battlefield 5 27−30
+11.5%
24−27
−11.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%
Far Cry 5 20−22
+11.1%
18−20
−11.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
−8.3%
26
+8.3%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+9.7%
30−35
−9.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
+10%
10−11
−10%

This is how R9 390X and RX 480 compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • R9 390X is 16.7% faster than RX 480

1440p resolution:

  • R9 390X is 1.9% faster than RX 480

4K resolution:

  • R9 390X is 34.3% faster than RX 480

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the R9 390X is 82.9% faster than the RX 480.
  • in Red Dead Redemption 2, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX 480 is 72.5% faster than the R9 390X.

All in all, in popular games:

  • R9 390X is ahead in 51 test (75%)
  • RX 480 is ahead in 16 tests (24%)
  • there's a draw in 1 test (1%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 24.33 22.29
Recency 16 June 2015 29 June 2016
Cost $429 $229
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 275 Watt 150 Watt

We couldn't decide between Radeon R9 390X and Radeon RX 480. The differences in performance seem too small.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon R9 390X
Radeon R9 390X
AMD Radeon RX 480
Radeon RX 480

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