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AMD Radeon R9 370 1024SP

AMD Radeon R9 370 1024SP: A Review of an Outdated Fighter in 2025

April 2025

Despite the rapid technological advancements, some GPUs continue to attract budget-conscious users. The AMD Radeon R9 370 1024SP is a card released nearly a decade ago, but it still appears on the secondary market. Let's explore whether it's worth considering in 2025 and who it might be suitable for.

1. Architecture and Key Features

GCN 1.0: Legacy of the Past

The Radeon R9 370 1024SP is built on the Graphics Core Next (GCN) 1.0 architecture, which debuted in 2012. The manufacturing process is 28 nm, which appears archaic by today’s standards (new GPUs use 5–7 nm).

Key Features:

- 1024 shader processors — the basis for computations.

- Support for DirectX 12 (Feature Level 12_0) and OpenGL 4.6.

- Lack of hardware ray tracing and AI accelerators.

Unique Functions:

- AMD FidelityFX — a set of optimizations for improving image quality (contrast sharpness, upscaling), but implemented partially through drivers.

- FreeSync — synchronization with monitors to eliminate tearing.

The card does not support DLSS, FSR 3.0, or similar technologies, which limits its capabilities in modern games.

2. Memory: Speed and Capacity

GDDR5: Humble Capabilities

- Memory Type: GDDR5 (not GDDR6 or HBM).

- Capacity: 2 GB or 4 GB depending on the variant.

- Bus: 256-bit.

- Bandwidth: 179.2 GB/s (for the 4 GB version).

Impact on Performance:

- 2 GB — critically low for 2025 games even at low settings (textures "consume" memory).

- 4 GB — the minimal acceptable option for 1080p in older projects.

3. Game Performance

1080p: Limits of Capability

Testing games from 2024–2025 shows that the R9 370 1024SP struggles with modern AAA titles. Examples (at medium settings):

- Cyberpunk 2077 (2023): 15–20 FPS (1080p, no Ray Tracing).

- Fortnite (Chapter 6): 30–35 FPS (1080p, FSR Quality).

- Apex Legends: 40–45 FPS (1080p).

- The Witcher 3 (2022 Remaster): 25–30 FPS (1080p).

Resolutions:

- 1440p and 4K — not recommended due to lack of memory and processing power.

Ray Tracing: Not supported natively. Software emulation drops FPS to 5–10 frames.

4. Professional Tasks

Basic Capabilities

- Video Editing: Suitable for work in DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro at up to 1080p resolutions, but rendering will be slow.

- 3D Modeling: Handles simple scenes in Blender or Maya, but lacks memory and speed for complex projects (OpenCL).

- Scientific Calculations: Limited OpenCL support, no specialized cores (like CUDA from NVIDIA).

Conclusion: The card is only fit for educational or hobbyist projects.

5. Power Consumption and Heat Dissipation

TDP 150W: Don’t Forget the Power Supply

- TDP: 150 W.

- PSU Recommendations: At least 500 W (with headroom for the CPU and peripherals).

- Cooling: The reference cooler is effective but noisy. Optimal choices are models with dual fans (e.g., Sapphire or MSI).

- Case: Good ventilation is essential (2–3 fans for intake/exhaust).

6. Comparison with Competitors

Outdated Analogues

- NVIDIA GTX 960 (4 GB): Comparable in performance but better optimized for DX12.

- AMD RX 560 (4 GB): Lower power consumption (+30% performance).

- Intel Arc A380: Newer, supports Ray Tracing and XeSS, but more expensive ($150–170).

Prices (new, if you can find them):

- R9 370 1024SP — $80–120 (rare leftovers).

- Intel Arc A380 — $150.

7. Practical Tips

How to Avoid Troubles

- Power Supply: 500 W, 80+ Bronze. Example: Corsair CX550.

- Compatibility: Requires PCIe 3.0 x16. Compatible with Windows 10/11, but drivers are rarely updated.

- Drivers: Use Adrenalin 22.6.1 (the last stable version for GCN 1.0).

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Low price on the secondary market ($50–80).

- Supports FreeSync.

- Sufficient for office tasks and older games.

Cons:

- No Ray Tracing or AI accelerators.

- High power consumption.

- Limited driver support.

9. Final Verdict: Who Should Consider the R9 370 1024SP?

This graphics card is suitable for:

1. Budget Builds: If you need a PC for office work and video playback.

2. Retro Gamers: For playing games from the 2010s (Skyrim, GTA V).

3. Temporary Solutions: While saving for a modern GPU.

Why not buy new? Even if you find leftovers for $100, it's better to add $50–70 and get an Intel Arc A380 or AMD RX 6400 — they are more energy-efficient and support modern technologies.

The R9 370 1024SP is a relic, a reminder of GPU progress. It's still alive, but its time has long passed.

Basic

Label Name

AMD

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

June 2015

Model Name

Radeon R9 370 1024SP

Generation

Pirate Islands

Base Clock

925MHz

Boost Clock

975MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 3.0 x16

Transistors

2,800 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 1.0

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.

256bit

Memory Clock

1400MHz

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.

179.2 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.

31.20 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.

62.40 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.

124.8 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.

2.037 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.

1024

L1 Cache

16 KB (per CU)

L2 Cache

512KB

TDP

150W

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

1.2

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (11_1)

Power Connectors

1x 6-pin

Shader Model

5.1

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

450W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

2.037 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

GRID M6 8Q

2.174 +6.7%

Quadro K5000 SYNC

2.126 +4.4%

Radeon R9 370 1024SP

2.037

Radeon Vega 8 Mobile

2.007 -1.5%

Iris Xe Graphics 96EU Mobile

1.957 -3.9%