Sound Performance
We tested the sound performance at idle and during load. We used a certified Db meter at a range of 15 inches. It is important to note we used the MicroCool Banchetto 101 Chassis for testing which is an open chassis. This means you are hearing the GPU cooler fan unobstructed and the card should have maximum airflow around it.
With all of these test results, they are raw and uncut, take all sound results as guidance, an open chassis will not deaden any of the sounds coming from the card.
If any of these cards are installed in a chassis, this may reduce in sound levels due to the acoustic dampening effect of the chassis itself. Though if your chassis has poor airflow, then the card will labour under load, and possibly increase the overall sound when gaming.
As it stands, the Sapphire ITX Radeon R9 380 is an excellent performer, given the open chassis test. The ITX R9 380 includes a single 85mm dual ball bearing fan. It’s in the center of the card, and blows air across the heatsink.
We could argue that any ITX card in an ITX chassis will need to spool up its fans more, due to the restricted airflow. That would be a fair argument over these results, however, this is to compare against the other cards we have tested and have sound data for. Also, when you consider this just has one fan and not a dual or triple fan setup, that’s good going for a single fan graphics card. However, a single fan card will not have the capability to move a lot of air without spinning up to a higher RPM than two or three fan setups.
Sapphire ITX Radeon R9 380 Graphics Card Review
Package and Bundle - 8
Performance - 8
Price - 8.5
Consumer Experience - 9
8.4
With some truly superb gaming performance on a small form factor layout, you need to look at this card for your next build or upgrade. The R9 Nano is out there too, but it's about three times the cost, and we don't think you'll want to spend that on one component of an ITX build. The Sapphire ITX Compact Radeon R9 380 will play a lot of your games in 1080p, maybe with some of the visual toys turned off, and sometimes not. We would be lying if we did not recommend this.