GeForce GTX 680 vs Radeon R9 290

Place in performance ranking	244	337
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	12.45	5.08
Architecture	GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)	Kepler (2012−2018)
GPU code name	Hawaii	GK104
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	5 November 2013 (10 years ago)	22 March 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$399	$499
Current price	$20 (0.1x MSRP)	$156 (0.3x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 290 has 145% better value for money than GTX 680.

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	2560	1536
CUDA cores	no data	1536
Core clock speed	947 MHz	1006 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1058 MHz
Number of transistors	6,200 million	3,540 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	275 Watt	195 Watt
Texture fill rate	151.5	128.8 billion/sec
Floating-point performance	4,849 gflops	3,090.4 gflops

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	no data	PCI Express 3.0
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	275 mm	10.0" (25.4 cm)
Height	no data	4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	Two 6-pin
SLI options	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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	2048 MB
Memory bus width	512 Bit	256-bit GDDR5
Memory clock speed	5000 MHz	6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	320.0 GB/s	192.2 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	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	One Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPort
Multi monitor support	no data	4 displays
HDMI	+	+
HDCP	no data	+
Maximum VGA resolution	no data	2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI	no data	Internal

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12 (11_0)
Shader Model	6.3	5.1
OpenGL	4.6	4.2
OpenCL	2.0	1.2
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.1.126
CUDA	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.

R9 290 20.91
+45.9%

GTX 680 14.33

Radeon R9 290 outperforms GeForce GTX 680 by 46% based on our aggregated 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%

R9 290 8093
+45.9%

GTX 680 5548

Radeon R9 290 outperforms GeForce GTX 680 by 46% 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%

R9 290 11860
+56.3%

GTX 680 7587

Radeon R9 290 outperforms GeForce GTX 680 by 56% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

Unigine Heaven 4.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark, a newer version of Unigine 3.0 with relatively small differences. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. The benchmark is still sometimes used, despite its significant age, as it was released back in 2013.

Benchmark coverage: 1%

R9 290 1440
+49.4%

GTX 680 964

Radeon R9 290 outperforms GeForce GTX 680 by 49% in Unigine Heaven 4.0.

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:

900p	65−70 +44.4%	45 −44.4%
Full HD	110−120 +44.7%	76 −44.7%
4K	35−40 +45.8%	24 −45.8%

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	20.91	14.33
Recency	5 November 2013	22 March 2012
Cost	$399	$499
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	2048 MB
Power consumption (TDP)	275 Watt	195 Watt