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AMD Radeon R9 M380 Mac Edition

AMD Radeon R9 M380 Mac Edition: A Review of a Classic for macOS Enthusiasts

April 2025

Introduction

The AMD Radeon R9 M380 Mac Edition is a graphics card designed specifically for Apple computer users who value a balance between performance and compatibility. Although this model was released nearly a decade ago, it remains popular in the niche of upgrading older Macs and budget workstations. In this article, we will explore what makes this card noteworthy in 2025 and who it may be beneficial for.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Architecture: The R9 M380 Mac Edition is built on the 3rd Generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) microarchitecture, which, in its time, provided a breakthrough in energy efficiency and parallel computing.

Process Technology: 28nm manufacturing technology. In comparison, modern AMD and NVIDIA GPUs use 5nm and 4nm standards, making the R9 M380 archaic in terms of power consumption and transistor density.

Unique Features:

- Support for AMD FidelityFX (a simplified version of NVIDIA DLSS), but only in a limited number of games.

- FreeSync technologies for smooth visuals on compatible monitors.

- No hardware ray tracing (RTX features are unavailable).

Mac Edition Feature: The card is optimized for macOS, including support for the Metal API and stable operation in Final Cut Pro.

2. Memory: Speed and Capacity

Type and Capacity: 4GB GDDR5 — the standard of the mid-2010s. In comparison, modern models use GDDR6X or HBM3 with capacities up to 24GB.

Bandwidth: 96 GB/s (128-bit bus width, effective frequency of 6000 MHz). This is sufficient for 1080p tasks, but in 4K or when rendering complex scenes, potential bottlenecks may occur.

Impact on Performance: In gaming, memory capacity rarely becomes a limiting factor, but in professional tasks (like rendering 4K video), 4GB can lead to stutters.

3. Gaming Performance

Average FPS (1080p, Medium Settings):

- CS:GO — 90–110 FPS.

- Dota 2 — 70–85 FPS.

- GTA V — 45–55 FPS.

- Cyberpunk 2077 (Low) — 25–30 FPS.

Resolution Support:

- 1080p: The optimal choice for comfortable gaming.

- 1440p: Only in older projects (e.g., Skyrim) or with reduced settings.

- 4K: Not recommended — FPS rarely exceeds 20 frames.

Ray Tracing: Not supported. In comparison, even budget cards from 2025 (like the NVIDIA RTX 4050) can manage hybrid rendering in DLSS Performance Mode.

4. Professional Tasks

Video Editing: In Final Cut Pro, the card demonstrates respectable results thanks to optimization for Metal. Rendering a 1080p project takes 15-20% less time than on Intel UHD integrated graphics.

3D Modeling: In Blender (via OpenCL), the R9 M380 lags behind even the NVIDIA GTX 1650: rendering a medium-complexity scene takes 45 minutes compared to 25 minutes for the competitor.

Scientific Calculations: OpenCL support allows the card to be used for entry-level machine learning tasks, but computation speeds are 3-5 times slower than modern solutions.

5. Power Consumption and Heat Dissipation

TDP: 75–100 W. For comparison, the NVIDIA RTX 4060 consumes 115 W but offers four times the performance.

Cooling: Passive or active cooling system (depending on the modification). In compact Mac Pro cases, additional fans are recommended to prevent overheating.

Case Recommendations: The card is compatible only with certain Mac models (e.g., Mac Pro 2013-2019). A case with good ventilation is required for stable operation.

6. Comparison with Competitors

Within AMD:

- Radeon Pro 555X (for Mac): Less powerful (2GB GDDR5) but cooler.

- Radeon RX 5600M: 40% faster in gaming but not compatible with macOS without patches.

NVIDIA:

- GeForce GTX 960M (4GB): Comparable performance but Mac drivers are limited.

- RTX 3050 Mobile: Three times faster, but only in Windows laptops.

Apple Silicon:

- M2 Pro (19-core GPU): Outperforms the R9 M380 in energy efficiency and machine learning tasks.

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply: Minimum of 450W (for Mac Pro 2019).

Compatibility:

- macOS Monterey and newer — driver updates should be checked through "System Preferences".

- Windows (via Boot Camp): Works but with limited support for DirectX 12.

Drivers: Updates are released infrequently — the last version dates back to 2023.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Reliable operation in macOS.

- Affordable price ($150-200 for new units).

- Support for FreeSync and 4-display configurations.

Cons:

- Outdated architecture.

- Lack of modern features (ray tracing, DLSS).

- Limited compatibility with new Macs on Apple Silicon.

9. Conclusion: Who is the R9 M380 Mac Edition Suitable For?

This graphics card is a choice for those who:

1. Upgrade an old Mac Pro and are not ready to transition to Apple Silicon.

2. Need stable operation under macOS without experimenting with Hackintosh.

3. Play less demanding games or work with video at resolutions up to 1080p.

In 2025, the R9 M380 is more of a "workhorse" for specific tasks than a universal solution. If you're looking for a card for modern gaming or 3D rendering, consider models with RDNA 3 support or from the RTX 40 series. However, for its niche, the R9 M380 remains a reliable option.

Prices are accurate as of April 2025. Information is based on data from open sources and enthusiast tests.

Basic

Label Name

AMD

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

May 2015

Model Name

Radeon R9 M380 Mac Edition

Generation

Gem System

Base Clock

900MHz

Boost Clock

1021MHz

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

1568MHz

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.

100.4 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.

16.34 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.

49.01 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.

98.02 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.

1.537 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

Unknown

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.

1.2.170

OpenCL Version

2.1

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (12_0)

Shader Model

6.5

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.

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

1.537 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon R7 360E

1.645 +7%

GeForce GTX 580

1.613 +4.9%

Radeon R9 M380 Mac Edition

1.537

GeForce GTX 1050 Max Q

1.487 -3.3%

GeForce GTX 860M

1.417 -7.8%