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AMD Radeon R7 360 896SP

AMD Radeon R7 360 896SP: A Review of the Budget Graphics Card of 2025

Analysis of capabilities, performance, and target audience

Introduction

The AMD Radeon R7 360 896SP is a graphics card that remains popular among budget segment enthusiasts even in 2025. Despite its age, it continues to attract users with its low power consumption and affordable price. But how relevant is it today? Let's delve into the details.

1. Architecture and Key Features

GCN 1.1 Architecture: A Legacy of the Past

The card is built on the Graphics Core Next (GCN) 1.1 architecture, released in 2014. This is the 4th generation of GCN, optimized for a balance between performance and energy efficiency.

- Process Technology: 28 nm — outdated by 2025 standards, where 6-7 nm chips dominate.

- Compute Units: 896 stream processors (SP) compared to 2048 in modern budget models like the RX 6500 XT.

- Features: Support for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 1.0, but lacks hardware support for ray tracing (RT) and FSR 3.0.

Unique Features:

- TrueAudio Next — audio processing via GPU (relevant for VR environment emulation).

- FreeSync — compatibility with monitors to eliminate screen tearing.

2. Memory: Modest Capabilities

Type and Volume:

- GDDR5 — an outdated standard (modern cards use GDDR6).

- 2 GB — critically low for games in 2025, where even indie projects require 4-6 GB.

Bandwidth:

- 128-bit bus + speed of 6 Gbps = 96 GB/s. For comparison: RX 6400 (GDDR6) — 144 GB/s.

Impact on Performance:

The lack of memory results in a drop in FPS in games with high-resolution textures (e.g., Cyberpunk 2077 or Starfield) even on low settings.

3. Gaming Performance: 1080p at Minimal Settings Only

Examples of FPS (Medium Settings, 1080p):

- Fortnite: 45–55 FPS (with FSR 1.0).

- Apex Legends: 40–50 FPS.

- CS2: 70–90 FPS.

- The Witcher 3: 30–35 FPS.

Resolutions:

- 1080p: Comfortable for games up to 2022, new titles — at low settings.

- 1440p and 4K: Not recommended — lack of memory and compute power.

Ray Tracing:

Not supported due to the absence of RT cores. Software methods (e.g., FSR + RT) yield unacceptably low FPS (10–15 frames).

4. Professional Tasks: Minimum for Basic Tasks

- Video Editing: Suitable for working in DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro with 1080p videos, but 4K rendering will take 2-3 times longer than on a modern card.

- 3D Modeling: Handles basic scenes in Blender and Maya, but complex projects require more memory.

- OpenCL: Supported, but performance is lower than that of NVIDIA GTX 1650 (CUDA).

Conclusion: The card is suitable for students and beginner specialists, but not for professionals.

5. Power Consumption and Thermal Output

- TDP: 100 W — one of the main advantages of the model.

- Cooling: Passive or single-slot coolers manage under load up to 70-75°C.

- Recommendations:

- Case with 1–2 fans for ventilation.

- Power supply of at least 400 W (e.g., Corsair CV450).

6. Comparison with Competitors

2025 Analogues:

- NVIDIA GTX 1650 (4 GB): 20-30% faster in games, priced at $130–150.

- AMD RX 6400 (4 GB): Supports FSR 3.0 and RDNA 2, priced at $140–160.

- Intel Arc A380 (6 GB): Better performance in DX12 but requires a modern CPU.

Conclusion: The R7 360 falls behind even budget newcomers but is cheaper ($80–100).

7. Practical Tips

- Power Supply: 450 W with 80+ Bronze certification.

- Compatibility:

- PCIe 3.0 x16 (backward compatible with 2.0).

- Recommended CPU is Ryzen 3 3100 or Core i3-10100.

- Drivers: Use Adrenalin 24.x — they are stable, but do not expect optimizations for new games.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Price $80–100.

- Low power consumption.

- Quiet operation.

Cons:

- Only 2 GB of memory.

- No support for modern technologies (FSR 3.0, RT).

- Weak performance in new games.

9. Final Conclusion: Who is the R7 360 For?

This graphics card is suitable for:

1. Budget Builds: If you need a PC for office work, study, or video watching.

2. Retro Gamers: For running games from the 2010s at high settings.

3. Temporary Solution: While you save up for a modern model.

Why You Shouldn't Buy It: If you plan to play new releases in 2025 or work with 3D rendering.

Conclusion

The Radeon R7 360 896SP in 2025 is a niche product. It is not suitable for hardcore use but will serve as a lifeline for those seeking an inexpensive and reliable solution for basic tasks. However, if your budget allows you to spend $30–50 more, it’s better to look at the RX 6400 or GTX 1650 — they will provide a better future-proof solution.

Basic

Label Name

AMD

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

June 2015

Model Name

Radeon R7 360 896SP

Generation

Pirate Islands

Bus Interface

PCIe 3.0 x16

Transistors

2,080 million

Compute Units

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

28 nm

Architecture

GCN 2.0

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

2GB

Memory Type

GDDR5

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

128bit

Memory Clock

1500MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

96.00 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

17.60 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

61.60 GTexel/s

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

123.2 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

2.01 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

896

L1 Cache

16 KB (per CU)

L2 Cache

256KB

TDP

85W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.2

OpenCL Version

2.0

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (12_0)

Power Connectors

1x 6-pin

Shader Model

6.3

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Suggested PSU

250W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

2.01 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon HD 7970M

2.132 +6.1%

Radeon HD 5850

2.046 +1.8%

Radeon R7 360 896SP

2.01

FirePro V7800

1.976 -1.7%

Radeon R7 265

1.932 -3.9%