GeForce GT 230 vs Radeon R9 290

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 290 and GeForce GT 230, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 290
2013
4 GB GDDR5, 275 Watt
21.01
+2401%

R9 290 outperforms GT 230 by a whopping 2401% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking2621141
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation8.020.01
Power efficiency5.240.77
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code nameHawaiiG94B
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date5 November 2013 (11 years ago)12 October 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$399 $43.99

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 290 has 80100% better value for money than GT 230.

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 cores256048
Core clock speed947 MHz650 MHz
Number of transistors6,200 million505 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)275 Watt75 Watt
Texture fill rate151.515.60
Floating-point processing power4.849 TFLOPS0.156 TFLOPS
ROPs6416
TMUs16024

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).

InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length275 mmno data
Width2-slot1-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pinNone

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 typeGDDR5GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount4 GB512 MB
Memory bus width512 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz900 MHz
Memory bandwidth320.0 GB/s57.6 GB/s

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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPortNo outputs
HDMI+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_0)11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model6.34.0
OpenGL4.63.3
OpenCL2.01.1
Vulkan1.2.131N/A
CUDA-1.1

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 290 21.01
+2401%
GT 230 0.84

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 290 8093
+2406%
GT 230 323

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 21.01 0.84
Recency 5 November 2013 12 October 2009
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 512 MB
Chip lithography 28 nm 55 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 275 Watt 75 Watt

R9 290 has a 2401.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 96.4% more advanced lithography process.

GT 230, on the other hand, has 266.7% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 290 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 230 in performance tests.


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

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AMD Radeon R9 290
Radeon R9 290
NVIDIA GeForce GT 230
GeForce GT 230

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


4.2 558 votes

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2.9 64 votes

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.