Arc A380 vs Radeon R9 390X
Performance-wise the Arc A380 is out front, significantly faster, roughly 20% up on the Radeon R9 390X. It is also the stronger value pick here, so it's the easy recommendation if your budget allows.
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Arc A380 vs Radeon R9 390X: In-Depth Breakdown
Performance: Arc A380 vs Radeon R9 390X
The Arc A380 is significantly faster, around 20% ahead of the Radeon R9 390X. Both cards sit in the same broad class, well suited to entry-level 1080p.
Price & Value
Right now the Arc A380 starts at $130 USD against $429 USD for the Radeon R9 390X. Because it's both faster and competitively priced, the Arc A380 wins on performance-per-dollar by about 296%.
Power & Efficiency
The Arc A380 sips power at 75W next to the Radeon R9 390X's 275W, 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 Radeon R9 390X's 8GB (vs 6GB on the Arc A380) gives it more room for 4K textures and memory-hungry creative or AI workloads.
Generation & Longevity
The Arc A380 is roughly 7 years newer than the Radeon R9 390X (Alchemist vs GCN 2.0), so it generally benefits from a more modern architecture and longer driver-support runway.
Features & Ecosystem
Beyond raw numbers, the Arc A380 brings Intel XeSS upscaling and AV1 encoding, while the Radeon R9 390X 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 A380 or Radeon R9 390X?
The Arc A380 is the all-round winner here — it's faster and the better value, so buy it if it fits your budget. Only consider the Radeon R9 390X if you find it at a steep discount.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Arc A380 better than the Radeon R9 390X?
Which is better for 4K gaming, the Arc A380 or the Radeon R9 390X?
Is the Radeon R9 390X worth the extra $299 USD over the Arc A380?
Does the Radeon R9 390X have enough VRAM advantage to matter?
Which should you buy: Arc A380 or Radeon R9 390X?
Technical Specifications Comparison
Architecture & Cores
| Specification | Arc A380 | Radeon R9 390X |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Alchemist | GCN 2.0 |
| Process Node | TSMC N6 | TSMC 28nm |
| CUDA Cores (Shading Units / Stream Processors) | 1,024 | 2,816✓ |
| Ray Tracing Cores | 8 | — |
| Tensor / AI Cores | 128 | — |
Clock Speeds
| Specification | Arc A380 | Radeon R9 390X |
|---|---|---|
| Base Clock | 2,000 MHz✓ | 1,050 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 2,450 MHz✓ | 1,050 MHz |
Memory
| Specification | Arc A380 | Radeon R9 390X |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM Capacity | 6 GB | 8 GB✓ |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 96-bit | 512-bit✓ |
| Memory Speed | 15.5 Gbps✓ | 6 Gbps |
| Bandwidth | 186 GB/s | 384 GB/s✓ |
Connectivity & Power
| Specification | Arc A380 | Radeon R9 390X |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| TDP | 75 W✓ | 275 W |
| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |
| Released | Jun 2022 | Jun 2015 |