RTX A500 Mobile vs Radeon R9 270

Place in the ranking	428	321
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	4.98	no data
Power efficiency	5.15	20.11
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Curacao	GA107S
Market segment	Desktop	Mobile workstation
Design	reference	no data
Release date	13 November 2013 (11 years ago)	22 March 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$179	no data

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 cores	1280	2048
Core clock speed	no data	832 MHz
Boost clock speed	925 MHz	1537 MHz
Number of transistors	2,800 million	no data
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	60 Watt (20 - 60 Watt TGP)
Texture fill rate	74.00	98.37
Floating-point processing power	2.368 TFLOPS	6.296 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	48
TMUs	80	64
Tensor Cores	no data	64
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	16

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 4.0 x16
Length	210 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1 x 6-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	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	4 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	no data	1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth	179.2 GB/s	96 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	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	No outputs
Eyefinity	+	-
HDMI	+	-
DisplayPort support	+	-

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire	+	-
FreeSync	+	-
HD3D	+	-
LiquidVR	+	-
TressFX	+	-
TrueAudio	+	-
UVD	+	-
DDMA audio	+	no data

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 12	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.1	6.6
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	3.0
Vulkan	+	1.3
CUDA	-	8.6

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.

R9 270 10.95

RTX A500 Mobile 17.09
+56.1%

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.

R9 270 4306

RTX A500 Mobile 6721
+56.1%

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.

R9 270 5930

RTX A500 Mobile 7598
+28.1%

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	27−30 −63%	44 +63%
1440p	16−18 −68.8%	27 +68.8%
4K	2−3 −100%	4 +100%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	6.63	no data
1440p	11.19	no data
4K	89.50	no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	42 +0%	42 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	32 +0%	32 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	76 +0%	76 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Metro Exodus	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Valorant	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	24 +0%	24 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Dota 2	44 +0%	44 +0%
Far Cry 5	78 +0%	78 +0%
Fortnite	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	62 +0%	62 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	66 +0%	66 +0%
Metro Exodus	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Valorant	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
World of Tanks	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	20 +0%	20 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Dota 2	60−65 +0%	60−65 +0%
Far Cry 5	60−65 +0%	60−65 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	54 +0%	54 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Valorant	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Dota 2	30 +0%	30 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	30 +0%	30 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
World of Tanks	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Far Cry 5	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	39 +0%	39 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Metro Exodus	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Valorant	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Dota 2	30−33 +0%	30−33 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	30−33 +0%	30−33 +0%
Metro Exodus	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−33 +0%	30−33 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	2 +0%	2 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Dota 2	30−33 +0%	30−33 +0%
Far Cry 5	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Fortnite	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Valorant	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%

This is how R9 270 and RTX A500 Mobile compete in popular games:

RTX A500 Mobile is 63% faster in 1080p
RTX A500 Mobile is 69% faster in 1440p
RTX A500 Mobile is 100% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 64 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	10.95	17.09
Recency	13 November 2013	22 March 2022
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	4 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	60 Watt

RTX A500 Mobile has a 56.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 150% lower power consumption.

The RTX A500 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 270 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon R9 270 is a desktop card while RTX A500 Mobile is a mobile workstation one.

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