Radeon RX 590 vs GeForce 9800M GTX

Place in the ranking	1064	228
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.04	25.33
Power efficiency	1.09	9.63
Architecture	Tesla (2006−2010)	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code name	G92	Polaris 30
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	15 July 2008 (16 years ago)	15 November 2018 (6 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$328.50	$279

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 590 has 63225% better value for money than 9800M GTX.

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 cores	112	2304
CUDA cores per GPU	112	no data
Core clock speed	500 MHz	1469 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1545 MHz
Number of transistors	754 million	5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	65 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	75 Watt	175 Watt
Texture fill rate	28.00	222.5
Floating-point processing power	0.28 TFLOPS	7.119 TFLOPS
Gigaflops	420	no data
ROPs	16	32
TMUs	56	144

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).

Laptop size	large	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	no data	241 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	1x 8-pin
SLI options	+	-

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 type	GDDR3	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	800 MHz	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	51.2 GB/s	256.0 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 Connectors	No outputs	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMI	-	+

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	4.0	6.4
OpenGL	3.3	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	2.0
Vulkan	N/A	1.2.131
CUDA	+	-

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. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

9800M GTX 1.18

RX 590 24.34
+1963%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

9800M GTX 454

RX 590 9389
+1968%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

9800M GTX 4825

RX 590 48454
+904%

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 HD	4−5 −2375%	99 +2375%
1440p	2−3 −2700%	56 +2700%
4K	1−2 −3500%	36 +3500%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	82.13	2.82
1440p	164.25	4.98
4K	328.50	7.75

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

3−4

−1233%

40−45
+1233%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −1200%	65 +1200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1625%	69 +1625%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1233%	40−45 +1233%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −8900%	90 +8900%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 −2900%	90 +2900%
Forza Horizon 4	1−2 −27300%	274 +27300%
Hitman 3	6−7 −717%	45−50 +717%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −2050%	301 +2050%
Red Dead Redemption 2	2−3 −4450%	91 +4450%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −1650%	140 +1650%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −750%	272 +750%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −2160%	113 +2160%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1500%	64 +1500%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1233%	40−45 +1233%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −7300%	74 +7300%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 −2267%	71 +2267%
Forza Horizon 4	1−2 −25800%	259 +25800%
Hitman 3	6−7 −717%	45−50 +717%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −1950%	287 +1950%
Red Dead Redemption 2	2−3 −3600%	74 +3600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −1325%	114 +1325%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −382%	50−55 +382%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −716%	261 +716%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −680%	39 +680%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1050%	46 +1050%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1233%	40−45 +1233%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −5400%	55 +5400%
Forza Horizon 4	1−2 −9000%	91 +9000%
Hitman 3	6−7 −717%	45−50 +717%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −586%	96 +586%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −1150%	100 +1150%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −364%	51 +364%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −9.4%	35 +9.4%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3

−3100%

64
+3100%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2 −4500%	45−50 +4500%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −1750%	35−40 +1750%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −2400%	24−27 +2400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	38
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −1400%	14−16 +1400%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −2700%	27−30 +2700%
Hitman 3	7−8 −314%	27−30 +314%
Horizon Zero Dawn	4−5 −1700%	72 +1700%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	0−1	30−33
Watch Dogs: Legion	5−6 −3960%	203 +3960%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−975%

43
+975%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −1800%	19 +1800%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −4100%	42 +4100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	20
Far Cry 5	0−1	17

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3

−1400%

30
+1400%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	86 +0%	86 +0%
Battlefield 5	136 +0%	136 +0%
Metro Exodus	124 +0%	124 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	73 +0%	73 +0%
Battlefield 5	122 +0%	122 +0%
Metro Exodus	97 +0%	97 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	55 +0%	55 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	130−140 +0%	130−140 +0%
Metro Exodus	58 +0%	58 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	70 +0%	70 +0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	39 +0%	39 +0%
Hitman 3	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	57 +0%	57 +0%
Metro Exodus	36 +0%	36 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	32 +0%	32 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	46 +0%	46 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40 +0%	40 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	13 +0%	13 +0%

This is how 9800M GTX and RX 590 compete in popular games:

RX 590 is 2375% faster in 1080p
RX 590 is 2700% faster in 1440p
RX 590 is 3500% faster in 4K

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

in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX 590 is 27300% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RX 590 is ahead in 47 tests (70%)
there's a draw in 20 tests (30%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.18	24.34
Recency	15 July 2008	15 November 2018
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	65 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	75 Watt	175 Watt

9800M GTX has 133.3% lower power consumption.

RX 590, on the other hand, has a 1962.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 441.7% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 590 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 9800M GTX in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce 9800M GTX is a notebook card while Radeon RX 590 is a desktop one.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.