AMD Radeon R7 360E

AMD Radeon R7 360E

AMD Radeon R7 360E: Budget GPU for Basic Tasks and Gaming

April 2025


Introduction

The AMD Radeon R7 360E graphics card is an updated version of the classic budget model, designed for users who do not require top-tier performance but value stability and energy efficiency. This card occupies a niche between integrated graphics and mid-range solutions. Let’s take a look at its features, strengths, and weaknesses.


1. Architecture and Key Features

Architecture: The R7 360E is based on a refined architecture of GCN 3.0 (Graphics Core Next), which has been optimized to lower power consumption. Although it is not the latest RDNA, AMD has added support for some modern features.

Process Technology: 14 nm (a revised process for increased efficiency).

Unique Features:

- FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 1.0 — an upscaling technology to boost FPS in games.

- FreeSync — eliminates screen tearing with a compatible monitor.

- No hardware ray tracing support — no RT cores.

Conclusion: While the architecture is outdated, it is optimized for basic tasks and light gaming.


2. Memory

Type and Capacity: 2 GB GDDR5 — a modest amount for 2025.

Bus and Bandwidth: A 128-bit bus provides 112 GB/s.

Impact on Performance:

- Downsides: Insufficient memory for textures in modern games (e.g., Cyberpunk 2077 or Starfield require at least 4 GB).

- Upsides: Sufficient for older titles (CS:GO, Dota 2) and for use in office applications.

Advice: Avoid running games at ultra settings or resolutions higher than 1080p.


3. Gaming Performance

1080p (medium settings):

- Fortnite: 45–55 FPS (with FSR 1.0 — up to 65 FPS).

- Apex Legends: 40–50 FPS.

- The Witcher 3: 30–35 FPS.

1440p and 4K: Not recommended — FPS drops below 30 even at low settings.

Ray Tracing: Not supported.

Conclusion: The card is suitable for esports and older games, but not for AAA titles from 2023–2025.


4. Professional Tasks

- Video Editing: Handles rendering at up to 1080p in DaVinci Resolve (via OpenCL), but for 4K, a more powerful GPU is necessary.

- 3D Modeling: Only suitable for simple scenes in Blender.

- Scientific Computing: Limited OpenCL support — it's better to consider cards with CUDA (NVIDIA) or modern AMD RDNA.

Advice: For professional tasks, the R7 360E is a temporary solution.


5. Power Consumption and Heat Dissipation

TDP: 75 W — powered through PCIe with no additional connectors.

Cooling: Passive or compact cooler. Noise level of 28 dB.

Case Recommendations:

- A case with 1–2 fans is sufficient for ventilation.

- Ideal for mini-PCs and HTPC builds.

Plus: Suitable for upgrading old PCs with power supplies of 300–400 W.


6. Comparison with Competitors

NVIDIA GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR6):

- 20–30% faster in games but is more expensive ($150 versus $100 for the R7 360E).

AMD RX 6400 (4 GB GDDR6):

- Supports FSR 2.0 and PCIe 4.0 but requires a more powerful PSU.

Intel Arc A380 (6 GB GDDR6):

- Better performance in modern APIs (DX12), but drivers are less stable.

Conclusion: The R7 360E is a choice for those who value low price and minimalism.


7. Practical Tips

- Power Supply: 350–400 W (e.g., Corsair CV450).

- Compatibility: PCIe 3.0 x16, works on AMD AM4 and Intel LGA 1700 platforms.

- Drivers: Use Adrenalin 2025 Edition — optimized for stability but lacking support for new features.

Note: Some motherboards may require a BIOS update.


8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Price: $100–120 (new models).

- Low power consumption.

- Quiet operation.

Cons:

- Only 2 GB of video memory.

- No ray tracing support.

- Weak performance in modern games.


9. Final Thoughts: Who is the R7 360E Suitable For?

This graphics card is a good choice for:

1. Office PCs with occasional gaming sessions.

2. HTPC systems for video watching and light gaming.

3. A temporary solution while transitioning to a more powerful GPU.

4. Owners of old PCs with limited PSU.

Why choose the R7 360E? It offers an optimal balance of price, energy efficiency, and sufficient performance for everyday tasks. However, gamers and professionals would be better off considering models with 4+ GB of memory and support for modern technologies.


Conclusion

The AMD Radeon R7 360E may not be groundbreaking, but it is a reliable option for those who do not chase ultra-settings. As of 2025, it remains relevant in its niche, reminding us that even budget solutions can be practical.

Basic

Label Name
AMD
Platform
Desktop
Launch Date
December 2015
Model Name
Radeon R7 360E
Generation
Pirate Islands
Bus Interface
PCIe 3.0 x16
Transistors
2,080 million
Compute Units
12
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.
48
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.
16.80 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.
50.40 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.
100.8 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.
1.645 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.
768
L1 Cache
16 KB (per CU)
L2 Cache
256KB
TDP
75W
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
None
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.
16
Suggested PSU
250W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)
Score
1.645 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS
1.791 +8.9%
1.7 +3.3%
1.613 -1.9%