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Test Rig & Benchmarks
The OS we use is Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit with all patches and updates applied. We also use the latest drivers available for the motherboard and any devices attached to the computer. We do not disable background tasks or tweak the OS or system in any way. We turn off drive indexing and daily defragging. We also turn off Prefetch and Superfetch. This is not an attempt to produce bigger benchmark numbers. Drive indexing and defragging can interfere with testing and produce confusing numbers. If a test were to be run while a drive was being indexed or defragged, and then the same test was later run when these processes were off, the two results would be contradictory and erroneous. As we cannot control when defragging and indexing occur precisely enough to guarantee that they won’t interfere with testing, we opt to disable the features entirely.
Prefetch tries to predict what users will load the next time they boot the machine by caching the relevant files and storing them for later use. We want to learn how the program runs without any of the files being cached, and we disable it so that each test run we do not have to clear pre-fetch to get accurate numbers. Lastly we disable Superfetch. Superfetch loads often-used programs into the memory. It is one of the reasons that Windows Vista occupies so much memory. Vista fills the memory in an attempt to predict what users will load. Having one test run with files cached, and another test run with the files un-cached would result in inaccurate numbers. Again, since we can’t control its timings so precisely, it we turn it off. Because these four features can potentially interfere with benchmarking, and are out of our control, we disable them. We do not disable anything else.
We ran each test a total of 3 times, and reported the average score from all three scores.
Test Rig
| Test Rig “Hexzilla” |
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| Case Type | |
| CPU | |
| Motherboard | |
| Ram | |
| CPU Cooler | |
| Hard Drives | |
| Optical | Liteon DVD Burner |
| GPU | Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC |
| Case Fans | 1 x 180mm Mosfet / CPU / Ram cooling fan 1 x 120mm PCI-E Cooling Fan |
| Docking Stations | None |
| Testing PSU | |
| Legacy | None |
| Mouse | |
| Keyboard | |
| Any Attempt Copy This System Configuration May Lead to Bankruptcy | |
Benchmarks
Unigine Heaven
Heaven Benchmark with its current version 4.0 is a GPU-intensive benchmark that hammers graphics cards to the limits. This powerful tool can be effectively used to determine the stability of a GPU under extremely stressful conditions, as well as check the cooling system’s potential under maximum heat output. It provides completely unbiased results and generates true in-game rendering workloads across all platforms.
The Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC gave us 65.7 FPS coming in only second to the more expensive GTX 980Ti and about 15 FPS above the R9 290 a good score for the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC right out of the gate.
Kick up to a more demanding 1440P resolution and the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC hit 42.1FPS about 11 FPS ahead of the R9 290.
Settings for Unigine Heaven
Unigine Heaven Settings |
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| 1920 x 1080 | 2560 x 1440 |
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3DMark Testing
FireStrike
Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for today’s high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today.
FireStrike Ultra (2160)
In FireStrike Ultra the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC gave us 2905 on the graphics score, well ahead of the R9 290 and better than double the GTX 960 pack.
FireStrike Extreme (1440)
FireStrike Extreme sees the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC at 5854 about 400 points ahead of the R9 290 and well behind the GTX 980Ti, using price point comparison the GTX 980Ti is on the charts more for comparison than direct competition. The dual fan ASUS R9390X-DC2-8GD5 (not this GPU but a similar 2 fan model) runs $449 on Amazon so we expect the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC in at $449 – $480 and compared to the GTX 980Ti at $741 we really can’t draw a direct comparison with a card that cost 50% more.
FireStrike (1080)
Move to 1080p FireStrike and the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC throws a 13321 out there and stretching its 8G muscle and yawning at the benchmark.
Bioshock Infinite
Set in 1912, the game has protagonist, former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, sent to the floating air city of Columbia to find a young woman, Elizabeth, who has been held captive there for most of her life. Though Booker rescues Elizabeth, the two become involved with the city’s warring factions: the nativist and elite Founders that rule Columbia and strive to keep its privileges for White Americans, and the Vox Populi, underground rebels representing the underclass of the city. During this conflict, Booker learns that Elizabeth possesses strange powers to manipulate “Tears” in the space-time continuum that ravage Columbia, and soon discovers her to be central to the city’s dark secrets.
BioShock Infinite isn’t a hard game to run for GPU but it scales well to different GPU’s and shows the FPS difference well. The Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC hits 112 FPS in 1080p gaming
Our Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC came in well ahead of the R9 290 by about 13FPS and as expected the GTX 980Ti keeps top spot.
In our humble opinion the current state of gaming and GPU’s just aren’t ready for 2160p, televisions might be ready but GPU’s and 4K resolutions the industry hardware just isn’t up to the task. What’s sad is that monitor manufactures will push 2160p which has 4x the pixels of 1080p and in order for current GPU’s to handle that resolution game settings will have to be lowered in most cases. Since there are 2160p Monitors GPU developers will push the envelope to accommodate the massive amount of pixels and monstrously powerful GPUs with ungodly prices will spring up.
In BioShock Infinite at 2160p the only three cards that we have that could hack it are the 290A hitting 42 FPS, the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC pulling 52,6 and the GTX 980 Ti rolling 61 FPS.
BioShock Settings |
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| 1920 x 1080 | 2560 x 1440 |
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Battlefield 4
Battlefield 4™ on PC, powered by the advanced technology of DICE’s proprietary Frostbite™ 3 engine, blurs the line between game and glory. With dynamic destructable environments, vehicular combat, and the chaos of all-out-war with 64 players, Battlefield 4 on PC is an unmatched interactive experience.
In addition to its hallmark multiplayer, Battlefield 4 features an intense, dramatic character-driven campaign that starts with the evacuation of American VIPs from Shanghai and follows your squad’s struggle to find its way home.
There is no comparison. Immerse yourself in the glorious chaos of all-out war, found only in Battlefield.
Battlefield 4 is tough on video cards but the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC put up 75.26FPS and has been keeping second spot on the charts.
Upping the resolution in Battlefield the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC ran 54,06FPS about 15 FPS ahead of the R9 290.
At the 4K resolution the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC squeeked by playable frame rates at 30.1FPS and the only other GPU capable of playable frame rates was the GTX 980 Ti. We left the R9 290A and the R9 380’s on the charts so you can see what happens at uber settings on games at 4K. Scaling the settings down a considerable number of notches Battlefield 4 was playable with all the GPU’s but we lost a lot of the finer details in the game.
Battlefield 4 Settings |
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| `1920 x 1080 | 2560 x 1440 | |
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FarCry 4
The game follows Ajay Ghale, a young Kyrati-American of Nepali origin who returns to his native country of Kyrat (presently in Nepal) to spread his deceased mother’s ashes. Kyrat was an autonomous state in the Himalayas ruled by separate Kyrati Kings. Kyrat is derived from Kirati, a collection of Himalayan people originating from Tibet bordering the Himalayas. Ajay finds the country in a state of civil war between Kyrat’s Royal Army led by the country’s eccentric and tyrannical king Pagan Min and the Golden Path, a rebel movement fighting to free Kyrat from Min’s oppressive rule. The choices Ajay makes will determine the fate of Kyrat. This story has been inspired by the ten-year-long Maoist insurgency in Nepal.
FarCry 4 is one of those games easily playable at 1080P and the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC banged out 77.4 FPS.
Crank FarCry 4 up to 1440p and even the R9 290X is scrambling to give us the 30 FPS we consider rock solid to the human eye. The Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC chucked out 35.7 FPS and was entirely able to render great graphics at this level of resolution.
Here’s comes the 4K resolution and the R9 290A dropped to a choppy game play FPS of 25.4 while the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC had the muscle and memory to knock out 31.4 FPS, We did notice dips in the game play from time to time on the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC during intensive fight scenes but nothing that wasn’t playable.
FarCry 4 Settings |
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| 1080p | 1440p |
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Metro Last Light
Metro: Last Light is the sequel to Metro 2033. Published by Ukrainian game studio 4A Games, it is set in the same post-apocalyptic future as its predecessor, where mankind tries to survive in the underground of Moscow’s Metro. The story takes you through claustrophobic tunnels where you fight both humans and mutants. Each step takes you closer toward revealing a dark future and the possibility to prevent it.
Just like in the last title, the 4A Engine is used. It fully supports DirectX 11, Tessellation and Physics, we test with Physics turned off.
Metro Last Light is one of the highly detailed games that gets hard to run as you increase resolutions. At 1080p all the cards produced playable frame rates and the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC gave us 53.64 FPS.
Here at 1440p even the R9 380 4G are having a hard time with Metro Last Light the XFX R9 290 hit 34.2 and the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC hit 36.11.
Against our better judgement we ran Metro Last Light at 2160p and the R9 290 almost exploded, the Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC struggled at 17.2 and the EVGA GTX 980 Ti ruled supreme at 38.1 FPS.
Metro: Last Light Settings |
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| 1080p | 1440p |
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CRYSIS 3
Crysis 3 is the Fourth installment in the Crysis series. It is was released on February 19th, 2013 in North America, and February 21st in Europe. It was made using CryENGINE 3 and published by Electronic Arts.
Just an editorial note, Crysis 3 running CryEngine 3 at very high settings kills the FPS of GPU’s so badly no real comparison can be made so we use medium settings. When EA catches up with reality and better optimizes the game we’ll gladly retest at Uber High Settings.
At medium settings on Crysis 3 we got good graphics and avoided the Crysis 3 trap of uber settings which just kill every GPU we’ve thrown at it. The Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC gave 78.43 FPS and all the cards gave us god results with the dialed down graphics.
Moving to 1440p the GTX 960 pack was struggling with its 2G memory and 128-bit bus, the R9 380s with their 4G memory and 256-bit bus did well enough to be playable. The Asus Strix R9 390X Gaming 8G OC hit 50.84 FPS and we had some headroom to improve graphics quality and still stay above playable FPS.
Crysis 3 Settings |
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1080p |
1440p |
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The Amazon link doesn’t lead to this card but the DU2 version. Can’t find this card selling anywhere?
Otherwise very nice review
Excellent review! Thank you.