NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 vs AMD Radeon R9 290

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Combined performance score

R9 290
20.88

GeForce GTX 970 outperforms Radeon R9 290 by 19% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking242198
Place by popularitynot in top-10082
Value for money12.4522.79
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)Maxwell (2014−2018)
GPU code nameHawaiiGM204
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date5 November 2013 (10 years old)19 September 2014 (9 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$399 $329
Current price$20 (0.1x MSRP)$105 (0.3x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 970 has 83% better value for money than R9 290.

Technical specs

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 cores25601664
CUDA coresno data1664
Core clock speed947 MHz1050 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1178 MHz
Number of transistors6,200 million5,200 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)275 Watt145 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data98 °C
Texture fill rate151.5109 billion/sec
Floating-point performance4,849 gflops3,920 gflops

Size and 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 supportno dataPCI Express 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length275 mm10.5" (26.7 cm)
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)no data500 Watt
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin2x 6-pins
SLI optionsno data+

Memory

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount4 GB4 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed5000 MHz7.0 GB/s
Memory bandwidth320.0 GB/s224 GB/s
Shared memoryno data-

Video outputs and ports

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 DisplayPortDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Multi monitor supportno data4 displays
HDMI++
HDCPno data+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
G-SYNC supportno data+
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Technologies

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

GameStreamno data+
GeForce ShadowPlayno data+
GPU Boostno data2.0
GameWorksno data+

API support

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

DirectX12 (12_0)12 (12_1)
Shader Model6.36.4
OpenGL4.64.4
OpenCL2.01.2
Vulkan1.2.1311.1.126
CUDAno 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 20.88
GTX 970 24.89
+19.2%

GeForce GTX 970 outperforms Radeon R9 290 by 19% in our combined 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
GTX 970 9646
+19.2%

GeForce GTX 970 outperforms Radeon R9 290 by 19% 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
GTX 970 11954
+0.8%

GeForce GTX 970 outperforms Radeon R9 290 by 1% 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
GTX 970 1543
+7.2%

GeForce GTX 970 outperforms Radeon R9 290 by 7% 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:

Full HD65−70
−26.2%
82
+26.2%
1440p45−50
−20%
54
+20%
4K30−35
−26.7%
38
+26.7%

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 20.88 24.89
Recency 5 November 2013 19 September 2014
Cost $399 $329
Power consumption (TDP) 275 Watt 145 Watt

The GeForce GTX 970 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 290 in performance tests.


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

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon R9 290
Radeon R9 290
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce GTX 970

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Questions and comments

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