GPU Comparison
Select up to 2 GPUs to analyze their pricing, performance, and specifications side-by-side.
The Radeon RX Vega 56 is dramatically faster than the Radeon R9 380X, leading by roughly 300% in our performance index. It is also the stronger value pick here, so it's the easy recommendation if your budget allows.
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Radeon RX Vega 56 vs Radeon R9 380X: In-Depth Breakdown
Performance: Radeon RX Vega 56 vs Radeon R9 380X
The Radeon RX Vega 56 is dramatically faster, around 300% ahead of the Radeon R9 380X. Both cards sit in the same broad class, well suited to entry-level 1080p. The Radeon RX Vega 56 packs 3,584 stream processors versus 2,048 on the Radeon R9 380X.
Price & Value
Right now the Radeon RX Vega 56 starts at $310 USD against $349 USD for the Radeon R9 380X. Because it's both faster and competitively priced, the Radeon RX Vega 56 wins on performance-per-dollar by about 350%. The Radeon RX Vega 56 is trading below its $399 USD MSRP — a genuine deal. The Radeon R9 380X still sits about $120 USD above its $229 USD MSRP.
Power & Efficiency
The Radeon R9 380X pulls less power (190W vs 210W), so it's the easier card to cool and the lighter load on your PSU. The faster Radeon RX Vega 56 draws more overall but extracts more performance from each watt — plan for a sturdier power supply if you pick it. Its more modern GCN 5.0 (Vega) architecture on a GloFo 14nm process is part of why it does more with each watt.
VRAM & Future-Proofing
With 8GB against 4GB, the Radeon RX Vega 56 has more headroom for 4K textures and memory-hungry creative/AI tasks where the Radeon R9 380X's 4GB can fall short. The Radeon RX Vega 56's memory is also faster — 410 GB/s versus 182 GB/s (2048-bit vs 256-bit bus) — which helps feed the GPU at 4K and with heavy textures.
Generation & Longevity
The Radeon RX Vega 56 is roughly 2 years newer than the Radeon R9 380X (GCN 5.0 (Vega) vs GCN 3.0), so it generally benefits from a more modern architecture and longer driver-support runway.
Which should you buy: Radeon R9 380X or Radeon RX Vega 56?
The Radeon RX Vega 56 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 380X if you find it at a steep discount.