Radeon R9 290X vs Apple M1 8-Core GPU

M1 7-Core GPU M1 8-Core GPU M1 GPU M1 Max 24-Core GPU M1 Max 32-Core GPU M1 Pro 14-Core GPU M1 Pro 16-Core GPU
VS
Radeon R9 290 Radeon R9 290X Radeon R9 290X2 Radeon R9 295X2

Aggregate performance score

We've compared M1 8-Core GPU with Radeon R9 290X, including specs and performance data.

Apple M1 8-Core GPU
2020
11.82

R9 290X outperforms Apple M1 8-Core GPU by a considerable 41% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Contents

Apple M1 8-Core GPU M1 8-Core GPU
R9 290X R9 290X

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking389301
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data4.25
Power efficiencyno data4.52
Architectureno dataGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)
GPU code nameno dataHawaii
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Designno datareference
Release date10 November 2020 (4 years ago)24 October 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$549

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores82816
Core clock speed1278 MHzno data
Boost clock speedno data947 MHz
Number of transistorsno data6,200 million
Manufacturing process technology5 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data250 Watt
Texture fill rateno data176.0
Floating-point processing powerno data5.632 TFLOPS
ROPsno data64
TMUsno data176

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus supportno dataPCIe 3.0
Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x16
Lengthno data275 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno data1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeno dataGDDR5
Maximum RAM amountno data4 GB
Memory bus widthno data512 Bit
Memory clock speedno data1250 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data320 GB/s
Shared memory+-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectorsno data2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Eyefinity-+
HDMI-+
DisplayPort support-+

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

AppAcceleration-+
CrossFire-+
FreeSync-+
HD3D-+
LiquidVR-+
TressFX-+
TrueAudio-+
UVD-+
DDMA audiono data+

API and SDK compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectXno dataDirectX® 12
Shader Modelno data6.3
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data2.0
Vulkan-+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score.

Apple M1 8-Core GPU 11.82
R9 290X 16.61
+40.5%

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Apple M1 8-Core GPU 280200
R9 290X 332042
+18.5%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD28
−207%
86
+207%
4K35−40
−42.9%
50
+42.9%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data6.38
4Kno data10.98

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
−50%
45−50
+50%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
−46.5%
100−110
+46.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
−40.7%
35−40
+40.7%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
−50%
45−50
+50%
Battlefield 5 55−60
−35.7%
75−80
+35.7%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
−46.5%
100−110
+46.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
−40.7%
35−40
+40.7%
Far Cry 5 40−45
−38.6%
60−65
+38.6%
Fortnite 70−75
−31.1%
95−100
+31.1%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
−37%
70−75
+37%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
−45%
55−60
+45%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
−44.7%
65−70
+44.7%
Valorant 110−120
−24.3%
130−140
+24.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
−50%
45−50
+50%
Battlefield 5 55−60
−35.7%
75−80
+35.7%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
−46.5%
100−110
+46.5%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 170−180
−56.4%
280
+56.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
−40.7%
35−40
+40.7%
Dota 2 85−90
−23.5%
100−110
+23.5%
Far Cry 5 40−45
−38.6%
60−65
+38.6%
Fortnite 70−75
−31.1%
95−100
+31.1%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
−37%
70−75
+37%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
−45%
55−60
+45%
Grand Theft Auto V 45−50
−36.7%
67
+36.7%
Metro Exodus 24−27
−50%
35−40
+50%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
−44.7%
65−70
+44.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 35−40
−114%
75
+114%
Valorant 110−120
−24.3%
130−140
+24.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
−35.7%
75−80
+35.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
−40.7%
35−40
+40.7%
Dota 2 85−90
−60%
136
+60%
Far Cry 5 40−45
−38.6%
60−65
+38.6%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
−37%
70−75
+37%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+6.8%
44
−6.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 35−40
+20.7%
29
−20.7%
Valorant 110−120
−24.3%
130−140
+24.3%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 70−75
−31.1%
95−100
+31.1%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 24−27
−54.2%
35−40
+54.2%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 95−100
−37.5%
130−140
+37.5%
Grand Theft Auto V 20−22
−55%
30−35
+55%
Metro Exodus 14−16
−53.3%
21−24
+53.3%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 100−110
−53.2%
160−170
+53.2%
Valorant 130−140
−27.9%
170−180
+27.9%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
−45.7%
50−55
+45.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
−54.5%
16−18
+54.5%
Far Cry 5 27−30
−46.4%
40−45
+46.4%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
−45.2%
45−50
+45.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
−42.9%
30−33
+42.9%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 27−30
−46.4%
40−45
+46.4%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 10−11
−40%
14−16
+40%
Counter-Strike 2 8−9
−100%
16−18
+100%
Grand Theft Auto V 24−27
−117%
52
+117%
Metro Exodus 9−10
−55.6%
14−16
+55.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
−64.7%
28
+64.7%
Valorant 70−75
−45.7%
100−110
+45.7%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
−50%
27−30
+50%
Counter-Strike 2 8−9
−100%
16−18
+100%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Dota 2 45−50
−82.6%
84
+82.6%
Far Cry 5 12−14
−53.8%
20−22
+53.8%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
−45.5%
30−35
+45.5%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 12−14
−50%
18−20
+50%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 12−14
−50%
18−20
+50%

This is how Apple M1 8-Core GPU and R9 290X compete in popular games:

  • R9 290X is 207% faster in 1080p
  • R9 290X is 43% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Apple M1 8-Core GPU is 21% faster.
  • in Grand Theft Auto V, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the R9 290X is 117% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Apple M1 8-Core GPU is ahead in 2 tests (3%)
  • R9 290X is ahead in 61 test (97%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score 11.82 16.61
Recency 10 November 2020 24 October 2013
Chip lithography 5 nm 28 nm

Apple M1 8-Core GPU has an age advantage of 7 years, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

R9 290X, on the other hand, has a 40.5% higher aggregate performance score.

The Radeon R9 290X is our recommended choice as it beats the M1 8-Core GPU in performance tests.

Be aware that Apple M1 8-Core GPU is a notebook card while Radeon R9 290X is a desktop one.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.

Apple M1 8-Core GPU
M1 8-Core GPU
AMD Radeon R9 290X
Radeon R9 290X
Like
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Other comparisons

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Apple M1 8-Core GPU M1 8 Core GPU
vs
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R9 290X Radeon R9 290X
vs
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Apple M1 8-Core GPU M1 8 Core GPU
vs
GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q
HD 7470M AMD HD 7470M
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GTX 750 Ti 750 Ti
RTX 3050 8 GB GA107 NVIDIA 3050 8 GB GA107
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GTX 980 980
UHD Graphics 600 UHD Graphics 600
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HD 8670M 8670M
ATI HD 3870 ATI HD 3870
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ATI HD 4770 4770
Instinct MI100 Radeon Instinct MI100
vs
Tesla V100 SXM2 32 GB SXM2 32 GB
Tesla M2075 Tesla M2075
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Quadro P4000 P4000
RTX 2050 Max-Q NVIDIA 2050 Max-Q
vs
GTX 980 980
GTX 1050 Max-Q NVIDIA GTX 1050 Max-Q
vs
P2000 Max-Q Max-Q
GeForce MX570 GeForce MX570
vs
HD Graphics 520 Graphics 520
RTX 2070 Super NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super
vs
Xbox One S GPU S GPU

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.

4 930 votes

Rate M1 8-Core GPU on a scale of 1 to 5:

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4.2 459 votes

Rate Radeon R9 290X on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

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