Asus Strix Radeon R7 370 4GB GPU Review
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From the Reviewer
Good looking and performing GPU for 1080p gaming so long as you aren’t heavy on the AA in newer titles. This is a good GPU to buy for any budget-conscious PC builder.
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Today, I am going to be looking at a new AMD R7 GPU from a familiar brand; Asus Strix Radeon R7 370 4GB GPU. Asus is an extremely well-known company in the PC enthusiast world having been around since 1989 they produced some of the most outstanding enthusiast-grade products.
Table of Contents
The AMD Radeon 300 series comes with quite a number of improvements over the older 200 series with some of the new features being:
Frame rate targeting control (FRTC) which gives users the ability to set a maximum frame rate (between 55-95fps) in full-screen applications which in turn can reduce heat, power consumption and also fan noise but not introduce the traditional stuttering associated with Vsync, This is also helpful when using AMD Freesync monitors seeing as most of them have a set range for Freesync to work (35-95hz for example).
Virtual super resolution (VSR) which allows you to game at higher resolutions than your monitor supports, one of the great things about VSR is its relative performance to the resolution in question that being there is virtually no difference meaning that it’s a great tool for testing out your own GPU performance at a higher resolution, another upside to VSR opposed to things such as SSAA (Super sampling anti-aliasing) is that it works on all games and all engines so you can relive those old classics with great graphical fidelity than before.
DirectX 12 (DX12) is the newest graphics API from Microsoft which all Radeon 300 series GPUs support fully.
The direct control enables developers to better use your hardware (both CPU and GPU) to deliver an overall better gaming experience thanks to the much smarter and in-depth API.
One of the new features that Radeon GPUs will utilize with DX12 is ASYNC (Asynchronous) Shaders which will allow complex graphics task to use all available Radeon graphics resources at the same time meaning it can break down bigger tasks into smaller ones allowing the work to be done more quickly giving you better performance over DX11.
Here is an illustration of things would happen without ASYNC:
And this is how things are done with ASYNC:
As you can see the overall time taken to process the frame is greatly reduced due to the way ASYNC works.
Let’s take a closer look at the Asus Strix Radeon R7 370 4GB GPU;
Asus Strix Radeon R7 370 4GB Unboxing & Overview
The box’s outward appearance features a mechanical owl with the words ‘30% cooler, 0dB Gaming” in front of it describing that the Strix features 0dB fan technology which means that the fans do not turn on until the GPU hits a certain temperature (in this case it’s 62c) and that it runs 30% cooler in comparison to AMD’s R7 370 reference model.
Over on the back side are all the major features about this card which include the DirectCUII fan technology which is based around heatpipes having direct contact with the GPU core, The 0dB fan technology which as I stated before leaves the fans off until a temperature threshold has been passed.
This is one of the newest cards to be built-in Asus’ 100% automated production facility which hopefully means great quality control as it takes human error out of the equation, This card also comes with Asus’ GPU Tweak II overclocking and monitoring tool as well as a copy of XSplit Gamecaster if you like to stream or just record your gameplay.
The inside box is very plain and just features the Strix logo printed on it.
Opening it up we find the 370 in a good-sized anti-static bag inside a nice, snug cardboard shroud with a piece of foam over the top to protect it during shipping.
Taking the GPU out of its bag we find it to be quite tiny with the PCB only just being longer than the PCIe slot it fits into it, the card dimensions are 214mm long by 125mm wide and 42mm high.
The cooler is Asus’ own design and features two 8mm heat pipes soldered to a decent-sized heatsink so this should keep the temps down nicely.
The Strix R7 370 4GB GPU has a TDP of 110w and takes a single 6pin power connector, Asus quote power consumption of up to 150w for this card, it has a 4+1 power phase with 4 being for the core and 1 for the memory so there is a bit of overclocking potential in it.
The shroud is made from durable plastic but doesn’t manage to feel “cheap” and the overall look of the card is quite nice, it’s a little flashy but nothing over the top and the stickers add a bit of colour to the card, there is no backplate but on a card such as this I wouldn’t expect one.
It has a single CrossfireX finger so you can use another R7 370 in a Crossfire setup if you choose.
We have a good range of display connectors on this card: a DVI-D, DVI-I, HDMI and DP ports so you are pretty much covered no matter your choice in the display.
What’s left in the box is a Crossfire bridge, an optical disc with the 15.2 driver for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, the Asus VGA manual, Asus GPU Tweak for your overclocking fun and the XSpilt Gamecaster program among others.
We also have a quick install guide booklet, an Asus Strix pamphlet showcasing some of Asus’ other Strix branded products and a nice little Strix sticker for you to use wherever you please.
Onto the specs:
Here are they are as read by GPU-Z:
This particular R7 370 produced by ASUS has a core clock speed of 1050Mhz in gaming mode and 1070Mhz in OC mode, a memory speed of 1400Mhz (5600Mhz effective) on a 256-bit bus.
Essentially this card uses the same architecture (Pitcairn) as the older R9 270 and before that the HD 7850, but does that mean this card isn’t up to 1080p gaming?
Let’s find out shall we?
Asus Strix Radeon R7 370 4GB Gaming Performance
Testing Rig:
- CPU: AMD FX-9590 @ 5.0Ghz
- Memory: 16GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3 @ 2400Mhz 10-12-12-31
- Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2
- Graphics Card: Asus Strix R7 370 (15.7.1 Driver)
- Boot Crive: Samsung 840 Evo 250GB SSD
- Games Drive: Seagate 2TB SSHD
- OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
- Power Supply: Corsair AX1200i
Tomb Raider (2013)
Tomb Raider (2013) is a reboot of the hugely popular Tomb Raider which sees the beginning story of Lara Croft and is developed by Square Enix
Ultimate Settings (TressFX on)
1080p
1440p
At 1080p we are getting a playable frame rate with Tomb Raider but at 1440p it’s just not fast enough to cope with the more demanding resolution.
Dirt Rally
Dirt Rally is racing game developed and published by Codemasters which features a large variety of cars and locations, Players compete in timed events on a variety of road surfaces and varied weather conditions.
Ultra Preset
1080p
1440p
We get a very nice 60fps (well 59.98 to be accurate) at 1080p with this card and a still quite playable 41.51fps at 1440p, not a bad performance.
GTA V
Grand Theft Auto V is an open world action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games, The main storyline follows three protagonists (Micheal, Trevor and Franklin) as they commit heists and other shenanigans whilst under pressure from a government agency.
(Settings as shown below)
1080p
1440p
1080p is looking good with a nice 57.8fps avg but again 1440p is proving to be a bit much for it.
Grid Autosport
Autosport is the third instalment in the Grid series that’s both developed and published by Codemasters with more of a focus being put into more authentic gameplay than the previous Grid titles.
Ultra Preset (8x MSAA)
1080p
1440p
Again we get nice frame rates at 1080p and playable but not brilliant fps at 1440p.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Arkham Knight is the newest entry into the Batman series developed by Rocksteady Studios and Published by Warner Bros, This game is set one year after the events of Arkham City where Batman (you) must confront the mysterious Arkham Knight who has united with Scarecrow and has taken hold of Gotham City.
Ultra Preset (Gameworks off)
1080p
1440p
At 1080p we are just scraping in for playable fps with 43 avg and at 1440p this card doesn’t quite have enough power to get to push past 30fps avg
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is an open world action-adventure game developed by Monolith Productions.
The events in the story take place between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Ultra Preset (High resolution texture pack included)
1080p
1440p
This card at 1080p manages 47.3 avg fps which is quite playable and at 1440p manages to squeeze out 32.5 fps avg.
Sniper Elite 3
Sniper Elite 3 is a tactical shooter developed by Rebellion and set in North Africa during WWII, You play as OSS Sniper Karl Fairburne and make your way through multiple countries carrying out you varied missons.
Ultra Preset (DX11 Mode)
1080p
1440p
For 1080p the 370 managed a very nice 64fps avg and at 1440p still got 44.4fps avg, pretty good.
Synthetic Benchmarks and Overclocking
3DMark Skydiver
3DMark Firestrike
3DMark Firestrike Extreme
Unigine Heaven
Unigine Valley
Overclocking Performance:
With the fans left on Auto and the power limit bumped to 120% in GPU Tweak we managed a stable clock speed of 1175Mhz for the GPU and 1500Mhz (6000Mhz effective) for the memory which resulted in a nice increase to the graphics score on 3DMark’s Skydiver test
Noise levels and Temperatures:
Thanks to the 0 dB fan technology on the Strix this card was completely silent at desktop and low-stress usage and only got up to 34 dBa during all of my stress testing and benchmarks.
The temperatures were perfectly acceptable and only reached a top of 75c with all the stock settings.
Conclusion
Well then, This architecture has gone through quite the round of cosmetic surgery and facelifts in the past few generations but it’s still performing decently well in a lot of games averaging around the 40-50fps mark for the most part which would make it a good GPU to pair with a Freesync monitor, the issue there is that the 370 doesn’t support Freesync with it having the older architecture, I feel as though that is a missed target for AMD.
The cooler on this card was fantastic at idle being completely silent and at load it wasn’t really audible so I have to give Asus credit for that one, the single 6-pin power connector means it doesn’t use much power making it a good choice for those with smaller wattage PSUs,the factory overclock from Asus is among the fastest out there in the R7 370 lineup and the 4GB of memory is a nice addition as well especially if you are considering crossfire.
Freesync compatibility aside this card does well for 1080p gaming, it looks good, is inaudible at idle and not loud at all under full gaming load, has a nice factory OC and a good amount of memory so yes I could recommend this if you are after an AMD card for 1080p gaming and this falls into your price range.
Thank you to AMD for sending me the R7 370 Strix to review
AMD Radeon R7 370 vs AMD Radeon RX 570: What is the difference?
37points
AMD Radeon R7 370
47points
AMD Radeon RX 570
€1,813
Comparison winner
€1,813
vs
53 facts in comparison
AMD Radeon R7 370
AMD Radeon RX 570
Why is AMD Radeon R7 370 better than AMD Radeon RX 570?
- 10W lower TDP?
110Wvs120W - Supports 3D?
- Has Double Precision Floating Point (DPFP)?
- 1 more DVI outputs?
2vs1
Why is AMD Radeon RX 570 better than AMD Radeon R7 370?
- 243MHz faster GPU clock speed?
1168MHzvs925MHz - 3.
11 TFLOPS higher floating-point performance?
5 TFLOPSvs1.89 TFLOPS - 10.2 GPixel/s higher pixel rate?
39.8 GPixel/svs29.6 GPixel/s - 350MHz faster memory clock speed?
1750MHzvs1400MHz - 2GB more VRAM?
4GBvs2GB - 1400MHz higher effective memory clock speed?
7000MHzvs5600MHz - 100 GTexels/s higher texture rate?
159.2 GTexels/svs59.2 GTexels/s - 45GB/s more memory bandwidth?
224GB/svs179GB/s
AMD Radeon R7 370
vs
AMD Radeon Vega 8
AMD Radeon RX 570
vs
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060
AMD Radeon R7 370
vs
AMD Radeon R9 370X
AMD Radeon RX 570
vs
AMD Radeon RX 580
AMD Radeon R7 370
vs
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050
AMD Radeon RX 570
vs
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Gaming
AMD Radeon R7 370
vs
AMD Radeon RX 550
AMD Radeon RX 570
vs
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming OC
AMD Radeon R7 370
vs
Nvidia GeForce GTX 960
AMD Radeon RX 570
vs
Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super
AMD Radeon R7 370
vs
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650
AMD Radeon RX 570
vs
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050
AMD Radeon R7 370
vs
Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti
AMD Radeon RX 570
vs
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660
AMD Radeon R7 370
vs
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8
AMD Radeon RX 570
vs
AMD Radeon RX 550
AMD Radeon R7 370
vs
Nvidia GeForce GT 730
AMD Radeon RX 570
vs
Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti
AMD Radeon RX 570
vs
AMD Radeon RX 6400
Price comparison
AMD Radeon RX 570
Buy used:
€80
| Product | Store | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
Sapphire 11266-04-20G «RADEON RX 570 GDD. ..Sapphire 11266-04-20G «RADEON RX 570 GDDR5 Pulse» Grafikkarte 4GB schwarz |
€1,813 | ||
| Bewinner RX 580 Grafikkarte, 8 GB GDDR5 …Bewinner RX 580 Grafikkarte, 8 GB GDDR5 256bit Gaming Grafikkarte mit DP HDMI DVI D Schnittstelle Unterstützung 8K 2 Lüfter 16 PCI Express 3.0 Gaming Grafikkarte für Home Office | €174 | ||
| XFX Speedster MERC310 AMD Radeon™ RX 790…XFX Speedster MERC310 AMD Radeon™ RX 7900XT Gaming Grafikkarte, 20 GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA™ 3(RX-79TMERCU9) | €870 | ||
User reviews
Overall rating
AMD Radeon R7 370
1 User reviews
AMD Radeon R7 370
5.0/10
1 User reviews
AMD Radeon RX 570
6 User reviews
AMD Radeon RX 570
9.3/10
6 User reviews
Features
Value for money
5.0/10
1 votes
9.8/10
5 votes
Gaming
5.0/10
1 votes
9.
4/10
5 votes
Performance
5.0/10
1 votes
9.0/10
5 votes
Quiet operation
10.0/10
1 votes
9.0/10
5 votes
Reliability
6.0/10
1 votes
9.4/10
5 votes
Performance
GPU clock speed
925MHz
1168MHz
The graphics processing unit (GPU) has a higher clock speed.
GPU turbo
975MHz
1244MHz
When the GPU is running below its limitations, it can boost to a higher clock speed in order to give increased performance.
pixel rate
29.6 GPixel/s
39.8 GPixel/s
The number of pixels that can be rendered to the screen every second.
floating-point performance
1.89 TFLOPS
5 TFLOPS
Floating-point performance is a measurement of the raw processing power of the GPU.
texture rate
59.2 GTexels/s
159.2 GTexels/s
The number of textured pixels that can be rendered to the screen every second.
GPU memory speed
1400MHz
1750MHz
The memory clock speed is one aspect that determines the memory bandwidth.
shading units
Shading units (or stream processors) are small processors within the graphics card that are responsible for processing different aspects of the image.
texture mapping units (TMUs)
TMUs take textures and map them to the geometry of a 3D scene. More TMUs will typically mean that texture information is processed faster.
render output units (ROPs)
The ROPs are responsible for some of the final steps of the rendering process, writing the final pixel data to memory and carrying out other tasks such as anti-aliasing to improve the look of graphics.
Memory
effective memory speed
5600MHz
7000MHz
The effective memory clock speed is calculated from the size and data rate of the memory. Higher clock speeds can give increased performance in games and other apps.
maximum memory bandwidth
179GB/s
224GB/s
This is the maximum rate that data can be read from or stored into memory.
VRAM (video RAM) is the dedicated memory of a graphics card. More VRAM generally allows you to run games at higher settings, especially for things like texture resolution.
GDDR version
Newer versions of GDDR memory offer improvements such as higher transfer rates that give increased performance.
memory bus width
256bit
256bit
A wider bus width means that it can carry more data per cycle. It is an important factor of memory performance, and therefore the general performance of the graphics card.
Supports ECC memory
✖AMD Radeon R7 370
✖AMD Radeon RX 570
Error-correcting code memory can detect and correct data corruption. It is used when is it essential to avoid corruption, such as scientific computing or when running a server.
Features
DirectX version
DirectX is used in games, with newer versions supporting better graphics.
OpenGL version
OpenGL is used in games, with newer versions supporting better graphics.
OpenCL version
Some apps use OpenCL to apply the power of the graphics processing unit (GPU) for non-graphical computing. Newer versions introduce more functionality and better performance.
Supports multi-display technology
✔AMD Radeon R7 370
✔AMD Radeon RX 570
The graphics card supports multi-display technology. This allows you to configure multiple monitors in order to create a more immersive gaming experience, such as having a wider field of view.
load GPU temperature
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (AMD Radeon R7 370)
A lower load temperature means that the card produces less heat and its cooling system performs better.
supports ray tracing
✖AMD Radeon R7 370
✖AMD Radeon RX 570
Ray tracing is an advanced light rendering technique that provides more realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections in games.
Supports 3D
✔AMD Radeon R7 370
✖AMD Radeon RX 570
Allows you to view in 3D (if you have a 3D display and glasses).
supports DLSS
✖AMD Radeon R7 370
✖AMD Radeon RX 570
DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is an upscaling technology powered by AI. It allows the graphics card to render games at a lower resolution and upscale them to a higher resolution with near-native visual quality and increased performance. DLSS is only available on select games.
AMD SAM / Intel Resizable BAR
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (AMD Radeon R7 370)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (AMD Radeon RX 570)
AMD’s Smart Access Memory (SAM) and Intel’s Resizable BAR are two technologies that allow the CPU to have faster access to the graphics card, which can give a performance boost. It requires a compatible motherboard, graphics card, and CPU.
Ports
has an HDMI output
✔AMD Radeon R7 370
✔AMD Radeon RX 570
Devices with a HDMI or mini HDMI port can transfer high definition video and audio to a display.
HDMI ports
More HDMI ports mean that you can simultaneously connect numerous devices, such as video game consoles and set-top boxes.
HDMI version
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (AMD Radeon R7 370)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (AMD Radeon RX 570)
Newer versions of HDMI support higher bandwidth, which allows for higher resolutions and frame rates.
DisplayPort outputs
Allows you to connect to a display using DisplayPort.
DVI outputs
Allows you to connect to a display using DVI.
mini DisplayPort outputs
Allows you to connect to a display using mini-DisplayPort.
Price comparison
AMD Radeon RX 570
Buy used:
€80
| Product | Store | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sapphire 11266-04-20G «RADEON RX 570 GDD…Sapphire 11266-04-20G «RADEON RX 570 GDDR5 Pulse» Grafikkarte 4GB schwarz | €1,813 | ||
Bewinner RX 580 Grafikkarte, 8 GB GDDR5 …Bewinner RX 580 Grafikkarte, 8 GB GDDR5 256bit Gaming Grafikkarte mit DP HDMI DVI D Schnittstelle Unterstützung 8K 2 Lüfter 16 PCI Express 3.
| |||