Arc A310 vs Radeon R9 380
Performance-wise the Arc A310 is out front, significantly faster, roughly 33% up on the Radeon R9 380. Value tips toward the Radeon R9 380, though: $58 USD cheaper for what you get.
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Arc A310 vs Radeon R9 380: In-Depth Breakdown
Performance: Arc A310 vs Radeon R9 380
The Arc A310 is significantly faster, around 33% ahead of the Radeon R9 380. Both cards sit in the same broad class, well suited to entry-level 1080p.
Price & Value
Right now the Radeon R9 380 starts at $42 USD against $100 USD for the Arc A310. Despite being slower, the Radeon R9 380 offers the better performance-per-dollar (~77% better value), so budget-focused buyers should weigh it carefully. The Radeon R9 380 is trading below its $199 USD MSRP — a genuine deal. The Arc A310 is trading below its $130 USD MSRP — a genuine deal.
Power & Efficiency
The Arc A310 sips power at 30W next to the Radeon R9 380's 190W, and still leads on performance-per-watt — quieter, cooler, and gentler on your PSU. Its more modern Alchemist architecture on a TSMC N6 process is part of why it does more with each watt.
VRAM & Future-Proofing
The Arc A310's 4GB (vs 2GB on the Radeon R9 380) gives it more room for 4K textures and memory-hungry creative or AI workloads.
Generation & Longevity
The Arc A310 is roughly 7 years newer than the Radeon R9 380 (Alchemist vs GCN 3.0), so it generally benefits from a more modern architecture and longer driver-support runway.
Features & Ecosystem
Beyond raw numbers, the Arc A310 brings Intel XeSS upscaling and AV1 encoding, while the Radeon R9 380 offers AMD FSR upscaling and strong rasterization value. If you lean on upscaling or ray tracing, that ecosystem difference can matter as much as the frame-rate gap.
Which should you buy: Arc A310 or Radeon R9 380?
Choose the Arc A310 if you want the most performance and can absorb the higher price. If you're optimizing for value, the Radeon R9 380 stretches your money further for only slightly lower performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Arc A310 better than the Radeon R9 380?
Which is better for 4K gaming, the Arc A310 or the Radeon R9 380?
Is the Arc A310 worth the extra $58 USD over the Radeon R9 380?
Does the Arc A310 have enough VRAM advantage to matter?
Which should you buy: Arc A310 or Radeon R9 380?
Technical Specifications Comparison
Architecture & Cores
| Specification | Arc A310 | Radeon R9 380 |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Alchemist | GCN 3.0 |
| Process Node | TSMC N6 | TSMC 28nm |
| CUDA Cores (Shading Units / Stream Processors) | 768 | 1,792✓ |
| Ray Tracing Cores | 6 | — |
| Tensor / AI Cores | 96 | — |
Clock Speeds
| Specification | Arc A310 | Radeon R9 380 |
|---|---|---|
| Base Clock | 2,000 MHz✓ | 970 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 2,000 MHz✓ | 970 MHz |
Memory
| Specification | Arc A310 | Radeon R9 380 |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM Capacity | 4 GB✓ | 2 GB |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 64-bit | 256-bit✓ |
| Memory Speed | 15.5 Gbps✓ | 5.5 Gbps |
| Bandwidth | 124 GB/s | 176 GB/s✓ |
Connectivity & Power
| Specification | Arc A310 | Radeon R9 380 |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| TDP | 30 W✓ | 190 W |
| Power Connectors | None | 2x 6-pin |
| Released | Oct 2022 | Jun 2015 |
