Unboxing & Overview
The boxes 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.
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 it’s 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 heatpipes soldered to a decent sized heatsink so this should keep the temps down nicely.
The R7 370 Strix 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 a 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 back plate 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 display.
What’s left in the box is a Crossfire bridge, a 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 has a core clock speed of 1050Mhz in gaming mode and 1070Mhz in OC mode, a memory speed of 1400Mhz (5600Mhz efffective) 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?
