Radeon R7 360 Video Card Review

We tested a Radeon R7 360 video card, which is the current entry-level video card from AMD. Let’s see how it performs compared to its competitor, the GeForce GTX 750 Ti. Check it out!
The card we tested is a HIS R7 360 iCooler OC 2GB, part number H360F2GD. You can check the product page here.
The Radeon R7 360 chip has 768 processing cores, and in the AMD reference model uses a 1,050 MHz maximum clock, but the HIS model comes with a small (2%) overclocking, running at 1,070 MHz. The tested card has 2 GiB of GDDR5 memory, running at 6.5 GHz, like on the reference model, which results in a 104 GiB/s bandwidth, with a 128 bit bus width. So, keep in mind that the results obtained are valid for the tested card; other models with different clock rates can show slightly different performance.

Figure 1 shows the Radeon R7 360 from HIS (H360F2GD).

Figure 1: the HIS Radeon R7 360

The direct competitor to the Radeon R7 360 chip is, by now, the GeForce GTX 750 Ti from NVIDIA. So, we are comparing the analyzed video card to a reference GeForce GTX 750 Ti card, shown in Figure 2. It has 2 GiB of GDDR5 memory running at 5.4 GHz, and 640 processing cores running at 1,085 MHz maximum clock.

Figure 2: the GeForce GTX 750 Ti

We also included in our comparison a GeForce GTX 950 from Gigabyte, just as a curiosity, so you can have an idea how entry-level card perform compared to a slightly more expensive video card. Remember, however, the GeForce GTX 950 is not a direct competitor to the Radeon R7 360; its actual competitor is the Radeon R7 370.
In the table below, we compare the main specs from the video cards we included in this review. Prices were researched at Newegg.com for this article.

Video card	Core clock	Turbo clock	Effective memory clock	Memory bus	Memory bandwidth	Memory	Processing cores	TDP	DirectX	Price
Radeon R7 360	1,070 MHz	1,070 MHz	6.5 GHz	128 bit	104.0 GB/s	2 GiB GDDR5	768	100 W	12	USD 95
GeForce GTX 750 Ti	1,020 MHz	1,085 MHz	5.4 GHz	128 bit	86.4 GB/s	2 GiB GDDR5	640	60 W	11.2	USD 95
GeForce GTX 950	1,102 MHz	1,279 MHz	6.6 GHz	128 bit	105.6 GB/s	2 GiB GDDR5	768	90 W	12.1	USD 135

Now let’s take a closer look to the tested Radeon R7 360 video card.
[nextpage title=”The Radeon R7 360″]
In Figure 3, you can see the video connectors of the Radeon R7 360. It has one DVI-D, one DVI-I, one HDMI and one DisplayPort connectors. The card supports up to six simultaneous monitors (using a DisplayPort hub).

Figure 3: video connectors

In Figure 5 you see the rear of the card. It uses a six-pin PCI Express power connector.

Figure 4: rear view

Figure 5 shows the solder side of the R7 360. There are no memory chips on this side.

Figure 5: solder side

Figure 7 unveils the Radeon R7 360 with the main cooler removed. It is a simple aluminum cooler with a 90 mm fan. Besides the main cooler, there is also a small heatsink over the voltage regulator transistors.

Figure 6: the Radeon R7 360 with the cooler removed

In Figure 8 you see the Radeon R7 360 with the voltage regulator circuit heatsink removed, showing up the transistors. This circuit has three phases for the GPU plus one phase for the memory chips. You can also see the four memory chips.

Figure 7: Radeon R7 360 without the heatsinks

In Figure 9 you see the “Tobago” chip, which is manufactured under 28 nm technology.

Figure 8: Tobago chip

Figure 9 shows one of the memory chips present at the Radeon R7 360. It is a SKhynix H5GC4H24AJR-R0C chip, with 4 Gib (512 MiB) capacity and 3.0 GHz maximum clock (6.0 GHz effective clock), which means the video memory is running above its nominal clock rate.

Figure 9: memory chip

[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]
During our benchmarking sessions, we used the configuration listed below. Between the tests, the only variable component was the video card being tested.
Hardware Configuration

CPU: Athlon X4 880K running at 4.4 GHz
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88X Extreme 6+
CPU Cooler: stock
Memory: 16 GiB DDR3-2133, four G.Skill Ripjaws Z F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH 4 GiB memory modules configured at 2,133 MHz dual channel
Boot drive: Kingston HyperX Savage 480 GB
Video Monitor: Philips 236VL
Power Supply: Corsair CX500M

Operating System Configuration

Windows 10 Home 64-bit
NTFS
Desktop video resolution: 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz

Driver Versions

AMD driver version: 16.5.2.1
NVIDIA driver version: 358.91

Software Used

Error Margin
We adopted a 3% error margin; thus, differences below 3% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 3% should be considered as having similar performance.
[nextpage title=”3DMark”]

3DMark is a program with a set of several 3D benchmarks. Fire Strike benchmark measures DirectX 11 performance and is targeted to high-end gaming computers, while Sky Diver also measures DirectX 11 performance being aimed at average computers. The Cloud Gate benchmark measures DirectX 10 performance.

On Fire Strike, the Radeon R7 360 was 5.6% slower than the GeForce GTX 750 Ti.

On the Sky Diver benchmark, the Radeon R7 360 performed the same way the GeForce GTX 750 Ti.

On Cloud Gate, the Radeon R7 360 was 4% slower than the GeForce GTX 750 Ti.

[nextpage title=”Gaming Performance (part 1)”]

Battlefield 4

Battlefield 4 is one of the most popular games of the Battlefield franchise, being released in 2013. It is based on the Frostbite 3 engine, which is DirectX 11. In order to measure performance using this game, we walked our way through the first mission, measuring the number of frames per second (fps) three times using FRAPS. We ran this game at Full HD, setting overall image quality at “medium.”
The results below are expressed in fps and they are the mean between the three collected results.

On Battlefield 4, the Radeon R7 360 was 12% slower than the GeForce GTX 750 Ti.

Dirt Rally

Dirt Rally is an off-road racing game released in April 2015, using Ego engine. To measure performance using this game, we ran the performance test included in the game, in Full HD resolution and image quality configured as “medium” and MSAA off.
The results below are expressed in fps.

In this game, the Radeon R7 360 was 20% slower than the GeForce GTX 750 Ti.

Dying Light

Dying Light is an open-world horror game launched in January 2015, using the Chrome Engine 6. We tested the performance at this game with all quality options as “high” and Full HD resolution, measuring three times the frame rate using FRAPS.
The results below are expressed in fps and they are the mean between the three collected results.

On Dying Light the Radeon R7 360 was 12% slower than the GeForce GTX 750 Ti.

Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V, or simply GTA V, is a open-world action game released for PCs in April of 2015 and uses the RAGE engine. In order to measure the performance on this game, we ran the performance test of the game (the plane portion), measuring the frame rate with FRAPS. We ran GTA V at Full HD, with image quality set as “high” and MSAA as 2x.

The results below are expressed in frames per second.

On GTA V, the Radeon R7 360 was 16% slower than the GeForce GTX 750 Ti.

Mad Max

Mad Max is an open-world action game launched in September of 2015, using the Avalanche engine. In order to measure the performance using this game, we ran its intro, measuring the framerate with FRAPS three times. We ran the game at Full HD, with image quality set as “normal”.

The results below are expressed in fps and they are the mean between the three collected results.

On Mad Max, the Radeon R7 360 was 8.5% slower than the GeForce GTX 750 Ti.

Rise of the Tomb Rider

Rise of the Tomb Rider is an adventure/action game launched in January of 2016, based on Foundation engine. In order to measure the performance using this game, we ran the benchmark included on it, using Full HD resolution and graphics quality “medium”.
The results below are expressed in frames per second.

On Rise of the Tomb Rider, the Radeon R7 360 was 8% slower than the GeForce GTX 750 Ti.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open-world RPG released in May of 2015 and based on the REDengine 3 engine. In order to measure the performance on this game, we walked around at the first scene of the game, measuring the frame rate with FRAPS three times. We ran the game at Full HD with image quality set to “medium.”

The results below are expressed in fps and they are the mean between the three collected results.

In this game, the Radeon R7 360 was 8.5% slower than the GeForce GTX 750 Ti.

[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
The entry level video card market, targeted to budget gaming computers, is one of the most important ones, since not every gamer want or can buy a high-end video card. So, our first conclusion is that even a simple and inexpensive video card like the Radeon R7 360 can ran recent games in Full HD and intermediate video quality with a good framerate, allowing a satisfying gaming experience.
So, while a mainstream video card can offer a better performance (including the GeForce GTX 950 proved this,) they are only required if the buyer wants a higher framerate and/or set the games at “ultra” quality. On the other hand, if you want to play at 4K resolution, a high-end video card is a must have.
However, when compared to its direct competitor (the GeForce GTX 750 Ti), the Radeon R7 360 was a little slower on all tests. So, unless you find it with a lower price tag, the GeForce GTX 750 Ti is a better deal.