Sapphire Dual-X R9 380 2GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

The R9 300 series makes its way to Sapphire’s Dual-X range of graphic card, sporting the distinct Dual-X cooling system.

Sapphire Dual-X R9 380 2GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Make no mistake, it’s a Dual-X cooling system alright. The R9 380 card here requires 2x 6-pin PCI-E connection to operate.

Sapphire Dual-X R9 380 2GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Heatpipes visible from the bottom.

Sapphire Dual-X R9 380 2GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

As always with the Dual-X models – no backplate.

Sapphire Dual-X R9 380 2GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Here’s the view of the I/O panel.

Sapphire Dual-X R9 380 2GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Last but not least, here’s the GPU-Z capture.

Sapphire Dual-X R9 380 2GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

More details at the official product page.

Test Setup

Processor Intel Core i5-4670K
RAM Kingston HyperX 2x 4GB DDR3 2400Mhz Kit
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z97X Gaming 3
Cooler NZXT Kraken X31
Monitor Dell U2414H
Power Supply FSP AURUM S 700W
Casing NZXT S340
Operating System Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit

Benchmarks

The closest (faster) card available for comparison would at goldfries’ lab is the R9 270X.

Unigine Heaven 4.0

Heaven 4.0
*NOTE : Details are set to maximum.
*NOTE : AA disabled in 4K test.

Card 1080p (avg)
Sapphire R9 380 2GB 36.5
AMD R9 270X 27.9

Metro Last Light

Heaven 4.0

Card 1080p (avg)
Sapphire R9 380 2GB 57.5
AMD R9 270X 41.5

Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite
Settings are at
2 – UltraDX11_DDOF | 2 – Custom | 1 – 16:9 | 4 – FullHD / 4K

Card 1080p (avg)
Sapphire R9 380 2GB 82.26
AMD R9 270X 54.91

Shadow of Mordor

Heaven 4.0
Settings : Set to maximum, V-sync off.

Card 1080p (avg)
Sapphire R9 380 2GB 40.73
AMD R9 270X 26.05

Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V
Settings : Set to Very High for every possible option. 8xAA enabled for Full HD test, AA Disabled for 4K test.

Card 1080p (avg)
Sapphire R9 380 2GB N/A
AMD R9 270X 21.17

For some reason the system refused to load the game, the game crashes during loading and subsequently reboots the system. I have no idea why.

Temperature

Furmark Burn-in Test was used to stress the card. Fan settings are at Auto. Room set to ~25c.

Card Idle(°C) Load (°C)
Sapphire R9 380 31 72
Sapphire R9 380 Full RPM 45 65

The fan design is awesome but at AUTO settings it hovers at around 40% RPM and it does produce some faint whirring noise, it should’t be audible when the casing is closed.

Power Consumption

The stress was done with Furmark Burn-in Test. Power consumption reading was taken from the watt-meter, actual power draw by the entire system from the wall point. I’m using an FSP Aurum S 700W with 90% efficiency and the estimated system power draw (CPU, not including GPU) during Furmark test is 60w.

Card Sapphire R9 380
Furmark Burn-in 254
Estimated Actual System Draw 228
Estimated Card Power Draw 168

The Verdict

The Sapphire Dual-X R9 380 2GB GDDR5 retails at RM 879 which is quite a steep price considering it’s just a Dual-X card, no back plate, stuck with 2GB RAM and being unable to load GTA V, which is why there is no GTA V benchmark on this review. Even if it did pass the test, I’d give this card a pass.

There’s just no reason to look at it considering you could opt for a used R9 285 or R9 280X with 3GB RAM.