Radeon 540X vs R9 290

Place in performance ranking	244	671
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	12.45	4.00
Architecture	GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code name	Hawaii	Lexa
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	5 November 2013 (10 years ago)	12 August 2019 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$399	no data
Current price	$20 (0.1x MSRP)	$421

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 290 has 211% better value for money than Radeon 540X.

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	512
Core clock speed	947 MHz	no data
Boost clock speed	no data	1219 MHz
Number of transistors	6,200 million	2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	275 Watt	50 Watt
Texture fill rate	151.5	33.47
Floating-point performance	4,849 gflops	no data

Form factor & compatibility

Information on Radeon R9 290 and Radeon 540X compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x8
Length	275 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	None

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	2 GB
Memory bus width	512 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	5000 MHz	6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	320.0 GB/s	112.0 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	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
HDMI	+	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	6.3	6.4
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	2.0
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.2.131

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 20.96
+466%

Radeon 540X 3.70

R9 290 outperforms 540X by 466% based on our aggregate 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
+466%

Radeon 540X 1429

R9 290 outperforms 540X by 466% 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
+327%

Radeon 540X 2779

R9 290 outperforms 540X by 327% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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

110−120
+424%

−424%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

50−55

+456%

9
−456%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	90−95 +463%	16 −463%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	65−70 +442%	12 −442%
Battlefield 5	45−50 +463%	8−9 −463%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	45−50 +463%	8−9 −463%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%
Far Cry New Dawn	55−60 +450%	10−11 −450%
Forza Horizon 4	90−95 +463%	16−18 −463%
Hitman 3	60−65 +445%	11 −445%
Horizon Zero Dawn	110−120 +424%	21−24 −424%
Metro Exodus	130−140 +465%	23 −465%
Red Dead Redemption 2	100−105 +426%	19 −426%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	130−140 +465%	23 −465%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 +438%	13 −438%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	65−70 +442%	12 −442%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Battlefield 5	45−50 +463%	8−9 −463%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	45−50 +463%	8−9 −463%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%
Far Cry New Dawn	55−60 +450%	10−11 −450%
Forza Horizon 4	90−95 +463%	16−18 −463%
Hitman 3	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%
Horizon Zero Dawn	110−120 +424%	21−24 −424%
Metro Exodus	90−95 +463%	16 −463%
Red Dead Redemption 2	80−85 +433%	15 −433%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	110−120 +450%	20 −450%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	90−95 +463%	16 −463%
Watch Dogs: Legion	100−105 +456%	18−20 −456%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	45−50 +463%	8−9 −463%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%
Forza Horizon 4	90−95 +463%	16−18 −463%
Horizon Zero Dawn	110−120 +424%	21−24 −424%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	95−100 +459%	17 −459%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	55−60 +450%	10 −450%
Watch Dogs: Legion	100−105 +456%	18−20 −456%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

65−70
+442%

−442%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30 +440%	5−6 −440%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	16−18 +433%	3−4 −433%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−33 +400%	6−7 −400%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−11 +400%	2−3 −400%
Far Cry 5	30−33 +400%	6−7 −400%
Forza Horizon 4	30−33 +400%	6−7 −400%
Hitman 3	45−50 +463%	8−9 −463%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 +456%	9−10 −456%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 +433%	3−4 −433%
Watch Dogs: Legion	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

35−40

+400%

7−8
−400%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 +400%	2−3 −400%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 +400%	2−3 −400%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 +425%	4−5 −425%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	0−1	0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	16−18 +433%	3−4 −433%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	10−11 +400%	2−3 −400%
Forza Horizon 4	10−11 +400%	2−3 −400%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 +425%	4−5 −425%
Metro Exodus	27−30 +440%	5−6 −440%
Watch Dogs: Legion	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

21−24

+425%

4−5
−425%

This is how R9 290 and Radeon 540X compete in popular games:

R9 290 is 424% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	20.96	3.70
Recency	5 November 2013	12 August 2019
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	275 Watt	50 Watt