Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire vs GeForce GTX 1660 Ti

Place in the ranking	160	291
Place by popularity	30	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	44.29	no data
Power efficiency	19.12	6.54
Architecture	Turing (2018−2022)	GCN (2012−2015)
GPU code name	TU116	Neptune CF
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	22 February 2019 (5 years ago)	1 March 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$279	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

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 cores	1536	2560
Core clock speed	1500 MHz	850 MHz
Boost clock speed	1770 MHz	900 MHz
Number of transistors	6,600 million	2x 2800 Million
Manufacturing process technology	12 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	200 Watt
Texture fill rate	169.9	no data
Floating-point processing power	5.437 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	48	no data
TMUs	96	no data

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	no data	large
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	no data
Length	229 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 8-pin	no data

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	GDDR6	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	2x 4 GB
Memory bus width	192 Bit	2x 256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1500 MHz	4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth	288.0 GB/s	no data
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	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	no data
HDMI	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 (FL 11_1)
Shader Model	6.5	no data
OpenGL	4.6	no data
OpenCL	1.2	no data
Vulkan	1.2.131	-
CUDA	7.5	-

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.

GTX 1660 Ti 33.49
+75.5%

R9 M290X Crossfire 19.08

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GTX 1660 Ti 22892
+61.8%

R9 M290X Crossfire 14147

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.

GTX 1660 Ti 61217
+86.7%

R9 M290X Crossfire 32792

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 1660 Ti 16024
+51.9%

R9 M290X Crossfire 10551

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

GTX 1660 Ti 93095
+29.3%

R9 M290X Crossfire 71977

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	103 +60.9%	64 −60.9%
1440p	59 +96.7%	30−35 −96.7%
4K	37 +76.2%	21−24 −76.2%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	2.71	no data
1440p	4.73	no data
4K	7.54	no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

78
+152%

30−35

−152%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	86 +95.5%	40−45 −95.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	74 +124%	30−35 −124%
Battlefield 5	130 +100%	65−70 −100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	95 +138%	40−45 −138%
Cyberpunk 2077	71 +129%	30−35 −129%
Far Cry 5	104 +126%	45−50 −126%
Far Cry New Dawn	112 +111%	50−55 −111%
Forza Horizon 4	231 +89.3%	120−130 −89.3%
Hitman 3	70−75 +79.5%	35−40 −79.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150 +52.6%	95−100 −52.6%
Metro Exodus	134 +97.1%	65−70 −97.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2	119 +125%	50−55 −125%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	171 +163%	65−70 −163%
Watch Dogs: Legion	120−130 +31.9%	90−95 −31.9%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	122 +177%	40−45 −177%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	55 +66.7%	30−35 −66.7%
Battlefield 5	121 +86.2%	65−70 −86.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	85 +113%	40−45 −113%
Cyberpunk 2077	57 +83.9%	30−35 −83.9%
Far Cry 5	82 +78.3%	45−50 −78.3%
Far Cry New Dawn	79 +49.1%	50−55 −49.1%
Forza Horizon 4	218 +78.7%	120−130 −78.7%
Hitman 3	70−75 +79.5%	35−40 −79.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150 +52.6%	95−100 −52.6%
Metro Exodus	114 +67.6%	65−70 −67.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	89 +67.9%	50−55 −67.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	127 +95.4%	65−70 −95.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	70−75 +59.1%	40−45 −59.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion	120−130 +31.9%	90−95 −31.9%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	53 +20.5%	40−45 −20.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	50 +51.5%	30−35 −51.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70 +75%	40−45 −75%
Cyberpunk 2077	46 +48.4%	30−35 −48.4%
Far Cry 5	61 +32.6%	45−50 −32.6%
Forza Horizon 4	97 −25.8%	120−130 +25.8%
Hitman 3	70−75 +79.5%	35−40 −79.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	102 +7.4%	95−100 −7.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	110 +69.2%	65−70 −69.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	62 +40.9%	40−45 −40.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion	120−130 +31.9%	90−95 −31.9%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

97
+83%

50−55

−83%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	75 +97.4%	35−40 −97.4%
Far Cry New Dawn	54 +80%	30−33 −80%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	41 +105%	20−22 −105%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	36 +100%	18−20 −100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	52 +136%	21−24 −136%
Cyberpunk 2077	27 +145%	10−12 −145%
Far Cry 5	41 +78.3%	21−24 −78.3%
Forza Horizon 4	202 +83.6%	110−120 −83.6%
Hitman 3	40−45 +82.6%	21−24 −82.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn	75 +87.5%	40−45 −87.5%
Metro Exodus	65 +75.7%	35−40 −75.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	78 +95%	40−45 −95%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	45−50 +100%	21−24 −100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	170−180 +48.7%	110−120 −48.7%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

65
+97%

30−35

−97%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	36 +89.5%	18−20 −89.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	29 +93.3%	14−16 −93.3%
Hitman 3	27−30 +80%	14−16 −80%
Horizon Zero Dawn	160−170 +59.8%	100−110 −59.8%
Metro Exodus	46 +119%	21−24 −119%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	43 +115%	20−22 −115%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	25 +108%	12−14 −108%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	19 +90%	10−11 −90%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	25 +127%	10−12 −127%
Cyberpunk 2077	11 +175%	4−5 −175%
Far Cry 5	20 +81.8%	10−12 −81.8%
Forza Horizon 4	51 +88.9%	27−30 −88.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	43 +95.5%	21−24 −95.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion	16−18 +100%	8−9 −100%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

44
+159%

16−18

−159%

This is how GTX 1660 Ti and R9 M290X Crossfire compete in popular games:

GTX 1660 Ti is 61% faster in 1080p
GTX 1660 Ti is 97% faster in 1440p
GTX 1660 Ti is 76% faster in 4K

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

in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 1660 Ti is 177% faster.
in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the R9 M290X Crossfire is 26% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GTX 1660 Ti is ahead in 71 test (99%)
R9 M290X Crossfire is ahead in 1 test (1%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	33.49	19.08
Recency	22 February 2019	1 March 2014
Chip lithography	12 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	200 Watt

GTX 1660 Ti has a 75.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, a 133.3% more advanced lithography process, and 66.7% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a desktop card while Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire is a notebook one.

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