GeForce RTX 2080 vs Radeon R9 290

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 290 and GeForce RTX 2080, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 290
2013
4 GB GDDR5, 275 Watt
20.57

RTX 2080 outperforms R9 290 by a whopping 132% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking27369
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation7.8926.74
Power efficiency5.2515.57
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)Turing (2018−2022)
GPU code nameHawaiiTU104
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date5 November 2013 (11 years ago)20 September 2018 (6 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$399 $699

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

RTX 2080 has 239% better value for money than R9 290.

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 cores25602944
Core clock speed947 MHz1515 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1710 MHz
Number of transistors6,200 million13,600 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)275 Watt215 Watt
Texture fill rate151.5314.6
Floating-point processing power4.849 TFLOPS10.07 TFLOPS
ROPs6464
TMUs160184
Tensor Coresno data368
Ray Tracing Coresno data46

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 3.0 x16
Length275 mm267 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount4 GB8 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth320.0 GB/s448.0 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
HDMI++
G-SYNC support-+

Supported technologies

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

VR Readyno data+

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_0)12 Ultimate (12_1)
Shader Model6.36.5
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL2.01.2
Vulkan1.2.1311.2.131
CUDA-7.5
DLSS-+

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.

R9 290 20.57
RTX 2080 47.66
+132%

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
RTX 2080 18754
+132%

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 290 11860
RTX 2080 17810
+50.2%

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 HD60−65
−145%
147
+145%
1440p45−50
−133%
105
+133%
4K30−35
−150%
75
+150%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.65
−39.8%
4.76
+39.8%
1440p8.87
−33.2%
6.66
+33.2%
4K13.30
−42.7%
9.32
+42.7%
  • RTX 2080 has 40% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • RTX 2080 has 33% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • RTX 2080 has 43% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Battlefield 5 163
+0%
163
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Far Cry 5 117
+0%
117
+0%
Fortnite 199
+0%
199
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 156
+0%
156
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 209
+0%
209
+0%
Valorant 263
+0%
263
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Battlefield 5 155
+0%
155
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 270−280
+0%
270−280
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Dota 2 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Far Cry 5 112
+0%
112
+0%
Fortnite 173
+0%
173
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 153
+0%
153
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 131
+0%
131
+0%
Metro Exodus 90
+0%
90
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 188
+0%
188
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 181
+0%
181
+0%
Valorant 254
+0%
254
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 145
+0%
145
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Dota 2 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Far Cry 5 106
+0%
106
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 132
+0%
132
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 169
+0%
169
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 106
+0%
106
+0%
Valorant 223
+0%
223
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 156
+0%
156
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 300−350
+0%
300−350
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Metro Exodus 60
+0%
60
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Valorant 247
+0%
247
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 125
+0%
125
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Far Cry 5 99
+0%
99
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 118
+0%
118
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 128
+0%
128
+0%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 107
+0%
107
+0%
Metro Exodus 39
+0%
39
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 76
+0%
76
+0%
Valorant 234
+0%
234
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 76
+0%
76
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Dota 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Far Cry 5 59
+0%
59
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 81
+0%
81
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 69
+0%
69
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 65
+0%
65
+0%

This is how R9 290 and RTX 2080 compete in popular games:

  • RTX 2080 is 145% faster in 1080p
  • RTX 2080 is 133% faster in 1440p
  • RTX 2080 is 150% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 67 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 20.57 47.66
Recency 5 November 2013 20 September 2018
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 8 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 12 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 275 Watt 215 Watt

RTX 2080 has a 131.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 133.3% more advanced lithography process, and 27.9% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 2080 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 290 in performance tests.

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AMD Radeon R9 290
Radeon R9 290
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
GeForce RTX 2080

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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


4.1 579 votes

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