PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ 8GB Graphics Card Review

Introduction We have all had mixed opinions on the R9 300 series upon release, the rebranded nature of the 200 series was seen as the fall of AMD and short-changing consumers. However, while they are in fact rebranded, they are great cards and provided an excellent performance boost over the previous generation and are a great foundation for the Fiji range to be based on. Today in the test bench is the PowerColor R9 390 PCS+. This is the only version of the R9 390 that PowerColor offer which is good as it's not confusing to consumers to have to choose between different models. As with all other R9 390's, it features 8GB VRAM, a 6000MHz memory clock and over 1000MHz core clock. This R9 390 PCS+ edition in particular, features a 3 fan monster metal cooling shroud which hugs a large heatsink; ideal for 0db operation at low load levels. The design of this card is extremely deceiving, the shroud is wide at the top and comes in. This makes the card look a lot larger than it actually is, being 10mm shorter than the Gigabyte G1 gaming and 7mm short than the Sapphire Tri-X cooler. Packaging and accessories The outer skin of the box is plain, but also extremely attractive to the eye. The trio of colours and simple design show that this is a no fuss card and the specifications along the bottom show that it means business. The back of the box has some key features with some images to be more appealing. The accessories aren't bursting from the seams with this card, PowerColor just offering the driver disc, installation manual and PCI-e power adapter. A Closer Look The overall look of the card is rather plain and simple, but the weight behind that metal shroud makes this feel extremely robust and hard to break. The trio of fans are simple in design and slightly translucent which works well if you have LEDs in your case. One this I love about this card is the inclusion of a back plate. It might be simple and possibly generic, but a back plate really adds a premium feel and look to the card while offering advanced cooling the rear mounted components. The card is slightly larger than the traditional 2 slots so Crossfire might be difficult if you plan on using two lanes next to each other. The heatsink has been cut away slightly around the power connectors to enable easier removal; this is extremely helpful if you have larger hands. The end of the card is no fuss and functional, the open-ended nature of the shroud really helps with the removal of the hot air, especially when the fans are above 50%. Something we have to live with on the R9 390 range is the poor output options. Personally I would have removed the lower DVI connector for an addition HDMI or maybe even mini-HDMI or DisplayPort connections. Testing & Methodology Before we delve into any testing we would like to take this opportunity to overview our test system. All tests will be conducted with the latest drivers available; results will be taken from an average of three tests. Hardware Motherboard – Gigabyte X99-Gaming G1 WiFi LGA 2011-3 Motherboard Processor – Intel Core i7 5820K at Stock 3.3GHz RAM – 16GB (4 X 4GB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400MHz CPU Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 with Gelid GC-Extreme Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 11 1200W Main Storage Drive – Crucial M550 512GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench Displays – AOC U2868PQU 4K Operating System – Windows 8.1 Pro 64 Bit “Killawatt” style electricity usage meter wall plug Precision Gold N05CC Decibel meter Drivers Software Battlefield 4 Bioshock Infinite Grand Theft Auto V Metro Last Light Tomb Raider 3DMark Unigine Valley Unigine Heaven CPU-ID HWMonitor TechPowerUp GPU-Z Luxmark Synthetic Benchmarks During our testing, we use a range of readily available synthetic benchmarking tools which are free to download from the respective websites. We do this so the readers can download and compared to our results. Download links are contained within the “Software” subheading. Noise Everyone has their own reasonable noise level when it comes to comes to components in a computer. Some can handle all fans at 100% load to keep temperatures down, some want a completely silent computer. Power Consumption With electricity becoming increasingly expensive across most parts of the world the need for computer components to become power efficient has never been more relevant. Graphics cards are often the most power-hungry components inside a desktop system so having an efficient graphics card is very important to keeping power bills under control. Power is often correlated to heat and so lower power consumption means a graphics card is likely to run slightly cooler and put out less heat into your system meaning your other components will run cooler with improved longevity. AMD and Nvidia have both made power consumption an integral part of the way graphics cards dynamically overclock so the need for graphics card vendors to use efficient VRM and PCB designs is becoming important to maximise performance. We take power readings after 5 minutes of two different load scenarios: desktop idle and Unigine Heaven load. Temperatures The cooling solution which graphics card vendors choose to implement is one of the main differences that consumers have to contend with when choosing a graphics cards. Apart from their acoustic properties, the thermal properties of graphics card coolers are extremely important. Lower temperatures are always better and with AMD and Nvidia opting to use dynamic overclocking algorithms that take temperature into account it is important that graphics card vendors use high performance cooling solutions in order to maximise performance. The era of graphics cards reaching dangerous temperatures are now in the past but the importance of lower temperatures still remains. Lower temperatures mean better stability, longer component longevity and lower fan speeds .We take temperature readings after 5 minutes of two different load scenarios: desktop idle and Unigine Heaven load. We always record actual temperatures and make a note of the ambient; in the case where more than 1 GPU is used an average is created. 3DMark Starting out with 3DMark, the R9 390 PCS+ places dead in the centre of the results. At 1440p, it just drops below the GTX 970. At 4K, the R9 390 PCS+ just pulls ahead again, likely due to the VRAM quantity offering more freedom. Battlefield 4 BF4 is a general all-rounder for a graphics card, offering good visuals with low-performance impact. Moving up the resolution and the higher VRAM quantities start to favour the AMD cards allowing the R9 390 PCS+ to take second at 1440p and 4K. Again, we see solid performance at 4K vs the 390X and GTX 980. Bioshock Infinite The R9 390 PCS+ holding the middle of the charts throughout all of the resolutions. Grand Theft Auto V Grand Theft Auto proves to be a demanding game with the high settings chosen, only just making 69 FPS at 1080p. Even the 8GB VRAM can't help the PowerColor card hit 60 FPS at 1440p. The R9 390 PCS+ just taking second place from the GTX 980. Metro Last Light The R9 390 PCS+ holding the middle of the results again, not too bad overall. Tomb Raider Tomb Raider is a relatively easy game for most graphics cards, the R9 390 PCS+ hitting 149 FPS at 1080p. Even at 1440p, well over 60FPS is achievable. If some of the visual qualities were lowered, 60 FPS could be achieved. Unigine Valley Unigine Valley isn't a playable game, but it gives a much better view of the overall performance of the graphics cards. Throughout each test, the R9 390 PCS+ offers average performance and lags just behind the GTX 980, despite the extra 4GB VRAM. Compute Performance AMD tend to be weaker at compute performance, where NVIDIA excel. The aging core performance is lacking here compared to the GTX 970 Maxwell core. Overclocking and Overclocked Performance The overclock on this was achieved quite quickly due to the low overclocking headroom. Although, with an overclock over 81MHz, this is one of the larger overclocks I've seen on an R9 390. 3DMark Fire Strike Once the overclock has been applied, the performance is given a nice boost, but it still doesn't perform as well at the R9 390X. At 1440p, the overclock just lags behind the GTX 970. Moving back up in front of the GTX 970, but performance still not near the R9 390X. Noise, Power Consumption and Temperatures Noise It was hard to tell that the fans were running over the system noise, this was an extremely quiet option. Power Consumption AMD has a massive downfall with power consumption, consuming 70watts more than the GTX 970 and increasing that to almost 100watts once overclocked. Temperatures The 0db feature on this card leaves the idle temperatures to be slightly higher than normal; even when overclocked there is only a slight rise overall. Final Thoughts Price The PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ is currently available in the UK from OverclockersUK for £249.95. In the US, it can be picked up from Newegg.com for just $329.99. This low price point makes this model the cheapest R9 390 on the market at the moment and even cheaper when it's on offer. Overview Overall dealing with this card has been simple and refreshing. It's nice to see more options in the high-end market rather than just the big hitters like the Fury range, this keeps things interesting for both AMD and NVIDIA to keep prices competitive and offer more bang for buck. The R9 390 is a rebrand yes, but that shouldn't put you off. This card shows that the optimised manufacturing processes and higher factory overclock offered are enough to please consumers, while offering it at a low price. I'll say it now, it's not the most attractive option on the market, but the PCS+ motto is "Ultra Cool, Ultra Performance", which is a nod towards function over form. I find this a better way to make a graphics card, especially if it's on the cheaper end of the market as the focus is on performance rather than looks. That being said, the straight cut lines and easy removal of the cooling shroud screams to the modder in me to spray in different colours to match my colour scheme. The performance is strong for an R9 390, it holds a consistent lead over the slightly more expensive GTX 970 and sometimes edges the GTX 980 in some of the 4K benchmarks. The low price also lends itself well to Crossfire in the future, which is great considering the high scaling percentage with AMD graphics cards. Due to this card featuring older technology which has been optimised hugely through the production process and overclocked higher from the factory, there is very little additional headroom for an overclock at home. This might be enough to put some consumers off, but when compared to other R9 390's, this overclock was one of the highest we've seen so far and gave some great results. Pros Extremely quiet Good out of the box performance DX12 compliant Well rounded Powerup Tuner app Good overclocked compared to other R9 390 options Cons Crossfire might be problematic due to the height of the card Neutral High AMD power consumption is a downfall Availability is poor in the US "The PowerColor R9 390 PCS+ is a rock solid performer with rugged looks and a price to undercut even the cheapest competitor." Thank you to PowerColor for providing this review sample.