Radeon RX 590 vs R9 270X

Place in the ranking	393	228
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	5.64	25.29
Power efficiency	4.87	9.67
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code name	Curacao	Polaris 30
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	8 October 2013 (11 years ago)	15 November 2018 (6 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$199	$279

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 590 has 348% better value for money than R9 270X.

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	2304
Core clock speed	no data	1469 MHz
Boost clock speed	1050 MHz	1545 MHz
Number of transistors	2,800 million	5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	180 Watt	175 Watt
Texture fill rate	84.00	222.5
Floating-point processing power	2.688 TFLOPS	7.119 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	32
TMUs	80	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).

Bus support	PCIe 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	no data	241 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2 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	4 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	no data	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	179.2 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	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	1x HDMI, 3x 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 audio	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 12	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	5.1	6.4
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	+	1.2.131

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 270X 12.62

RX 590 24.34
+92.9%

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 270X 4869

RX 590 9390
+92.9%

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 270X 6560

RX 590 16814
+156%

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	50−55 −98%	99 +98%
1440p	27−30 −107%	56 +107%
4K	18−20 −100%	36 +100%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	3.98	2.82
1440p	7.37	4.98
4K	11.06	7.75

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

20−22

−100%

40−45
+100%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	27−30 −124%	65 +124%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	20−22 −330%	86 +330%
Battlefield 5	40−45 −240%	136 +240%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	24−27 −176%	69 +176%
Cyberpunk 2077	20−22 −100%	40−45 +100%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −210%	90 +210%
Far Cry New Dawn	35−40 −157%	90 +157%
Forza Horizon 4	80−85 −230%	274 +230%
Hitman 3	24−27 −104%	45−50 +104%
Horizon Zero Dawn	65−70 −356%	301 +356%
Metro Exodus	40−45 −195%	124 +195%
Red Dead Redemption 2	35−40 −160%	91 +160%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 −241%	140 +241%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 −283%	272 +283%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	27−30 −290%	113 +290%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	20−22 −265%	73 +265%
Battlefield 5	40−45 −205%	122 +205%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	24−27 −156%	64 +156%
Cyberpunk 2077	20−22 −100%	40−45 +100%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −155%	74 +155%
Far Cry New Dawn	35−40 −103%	71 +103%
Forza Horizon 4	80−85 −212%	259 +212%
Hitman 3	24−27 −104%	45−50 +104%
Horizon Zero Dawn	65−70 −335%	287 +335%
Metro Exodus	40−45 −131%	97 +131%
Red Dead Redemption 2	35−40 −111%	74 +111%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 −178%	114 +178%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 −71%	50−55 +71%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 −268%	261 +268%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	27−30 −34.5%	39 +34.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	20−22 −210%	62 +210%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	24−27 −84%	46 +84%
Cyberpunk 2077	20−22 −100%	40−45 +100%
Far Cry 5	27−30 −89.7%	55 +89.7%
Forza Horizon 4	80−85 −9.6%	91 +9.6%
Hitman 3	24−27 −104%	45−50 +104%
Horizon Zero Dawn	65−70 −45.5%	96 +45.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 −144%	100 +144%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 −64.5%	51 +64.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 +103%	35 −103%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

35−40

−82.9%

64
+82.9%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 −84%	45−50 +84%
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20 −94.7%	35−40 +94.7%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	12−14 −108%	24−27 +108%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	9−10 −511%	55 +511%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −192%	38 +192%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 −150%	14−16 +150%
Far Cry 5	14−16 −86.7%	27−30 +86.7%
Forza Horizon 4	60−65 −124%	130−140 +124%
Hitman 3	16−18 −81.3%	27−30 +81.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −177%	72 +177%
Metro Exodus	21−24 −176%	58 +176%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 −250%	70 +250%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 −131%	30−33 +131%
Watch Dogs: Legion	75−80 −157%	203 +157%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

21−24

−105%

43
+105%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	12−14 −225%	39 +225%
Far Cry New Dawn	9−10 −189%	26 +189%
Hitman 3	9−10 −111%	18−20 +111%
Horizon Zero Dawn	60−65 +5.3%	57 −5.3%
Metro Exodus	10−12 −227%	36 +227%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −191%	32 +191%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 −171%	19 +171%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 −600%	42 +600%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 −233%	20 +233%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −200%	6−7 +200%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −143%	17 +143%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −171%	46 +171%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 −264%	40 +264%
Watch Dogs: Legion	5−6 −160%	13 +160%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

12−14

−150%

30
+150%

This is how R9 270X and RX 590 compete in popular games:

RX 590 is 98% faster in 1080p
RX 590 is 107% faster in 1440p
RX 590 is 100% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the R9 270X is 103% faster.
in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 590 is 600% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

R9 270X is ahead in 2 tests (3%)
RX 590 is ahead in 70 tests (97%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	12.62	24.34
Recency	8 October 2013	15 November 2018
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	180 Watt	175 Watt

RX 590 has a 92.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 133.3% more advanced lithography process, and 2.9% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 590 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 270X in performance tests.

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