Radeon RX 590 vs R7 260

Place in performance ranking	500	207
Place by popularity	not in top-100	85
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.04	31.79
Architecture	GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)	Polaris (2016−2019)
GPU code name	Bonaire	Polaris 30
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	17 December 2013 (10 years ago)	15 November 2018 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$109	$279
Current price	$205 (1.9x MSRP)	$133 (0.5x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 590 has 2957% better value for money than R7 260.

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	768	2304
Core clock speed	no data	1469 MHz
Boost clock speed	1100 MHz	1545 MHz
Number of transistors	2,080 million	5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	115 Watt	175 Watt
Texture fill rate	48.00	222.5
Floating-point performance	1,536 gflops	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).

Bus support	PCIe 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	170 mm	241 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1 x 6-pin	1x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1625 MHz	8000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	104 GB/s	256.0 GB/s
Shared memory	no data	-

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	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Eyefinity	1	no data
HDMI	+	+
DisplayPort support	+	no data

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration	-	no data
Enduro	-	no data
FreeSync	1	+
HD3D	-	no data
PowerTune	-	no data
TrueAudio	-	no data
ZeroCore	-	no data
DDMA audio	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 12	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	6.3	6.4
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	2.0
Vulkan	no data	1.2.131
Mantle	-	no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

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

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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.

R7 260 7.49

RX 590 24.37
+225%

RX 590 outperforms R7 260 by 225% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

R7 260 2891

RX 590 9413
+226%

RX 590 outperforms R7 260 by 226% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

R7 260 4380

RX 590 16814
+284%

RX 590 outperforms R7 260 by 284% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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	30−35 −237%	101 +237%
1440p	16−18 −256%	57 +256%
4K	10−12 −270%	37 +270%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

12−14

−233%

40−45
+233%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 −261%	65 +261%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27 −258%	86 +258%
Battlefield 5	40−45 −240%	136 +240%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 −229%	69 +229%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −233%	40−45 +233%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −233%	90 +233%
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30 −233%	90 +233%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −243%	120 +243%
Hitman 3	14−16 −250%	45−50 +250%
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50 −251%	158 +251%
Metro Exodus	35−40 −254%	124 +254%
Red Dead Redemption 2	27−30 −237%	91 +237%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 −243%	137 +243%
Watch Dogs: Legion	21−24 −243%	72 +243%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	16−18 −238%	54 +238%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24 −248%	73 +248%
Battlefield 5	35−40 −249%	122 +249%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 −256%	64 +256%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −233%	40−45 +233%
Far Cry 5	21−24 −252%	74 +252%
Far Cry New Dawn	21−24 −238%	71 +238%
Forza Horizon 4	75−80 −245%	259 +245%
Hitman 3	14−16 −250%	45−50 +250%
Horizon Zero Dawn	85−90 −238%	287 +238%
Metro Exodus	27−30 −233%	90 +233%
Red Dead Redemption 2	21−24 −262%	76 +262%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	35−40 −226%	114 +226%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	27−30 −226%	88 +226%
Watch Dogs: Legion	80−85 −226%	261 +226%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −290%	39 +290%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	18−20 −244%	62 +244%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 −229%	46 +229%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −233%	40−45 +233%
Far Cry 5	16−18 −244%	55 +244%
Forza Horizon 4	27−30 −237%	91 +237%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 −256%	96 +256%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−33 −233%	100 +233%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −264%	51 +264%
Watch Dogs: Legion	10−11 −250%	35 +250%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

18−20

−256%

64
+256%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	14−16 −229%	45−50 +229%
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20 −278%	68 +278%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 −257%	24−27 +257%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	16−18 −244%	55 +244%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 −250%	49 +250%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −275%	14−16 +275%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −250%	40−45 +250%
Forza Horizon 4	14−16 −243%	45−50 +243%
Hitman 3	8−9 −263%	27−30 +263%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 −243%	72 +243%
Metro Exodus	16−18 −263%	58 +263%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	21−24 −233%	70 +233%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 −233%	30−33 +233%
Watch Dogs: Legion	7−8 −257%	25 +257%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

12−14

−258%

43
+258%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 −290%	39 +290%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 −271%	26 +271%
Hitman 3	5−6 −280%	18−20 +280%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 −250%	27−30 +250%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 −243%	24 +243%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 −256%	32 +256%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −280%	19 +280%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 −250%	42 +250%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 −233%	20 +233%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −500%	6−7 +500%
Far Cry 5	5−6 −240%	17 +240%
Forza Horizon 4	14−16 −229%	46 +229%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −233%	40 +233%
Metro Exodus	9−10 −244%	31 +244%
Watch Dogs: Legion	3−4 −333%	13 +333%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10
−233%

+233%

This is how R7 260 and RX 590 compete in popular games:

RX 590 is 237% faster in 1080p
RX 590 is 256% faster in 1440p
RX 590 is 270% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	7.49	24.37
Recency	17 December 2013	15 November 2018
Cost	$109	$279
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	115 Watt	175 Watt