Radeon RX 480 vs R9 290

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Radeon R9 290 Radeon R9 290X Radeon R9 290X2 Radeon R9 295X2
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Radeon RX 470 Radeon RX 470D Radeon RX 480 Radeon RX 560 XT Radeon RX 580 OEM

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 290 and Radeon RX 480, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 290
2013
4 GB GDDR5, 275 Watt
18.11

RX 480 outperforms R9 290 by a small 6% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Contents

R9 290 R9 290
RX 480 RX 480

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking277266
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation6.9513.63
Power efficiency5.2410.19
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code nameHawaiiEllesmere
GCN generationno data4th Gen
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designno datareference
Release date5 November 2013 (11 years ago)29 June 2016 (8 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$399 $229

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

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

RX 480 has 96% 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 cores25602304
Compute unitsno data36
Core clock speed947 MHz1120 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1266 MHz
Number of transistors6,200 million5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)275 Watt150 Watt
Texture fill rate151.5182.3
Floating-point processing power4.849 TFLOPS5.834 TFLOPS
ROPs6432
TMUs160144

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 supportno datan/a
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length275 mm241 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 6-pin
Bridgeless CrossFire-+

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount4 GB8 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz8000 MHz
Memory bandwidth320.0 GB/s224 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
Eyefinity-+
HDMI+2.0
DisplayPort support-1.4HDR

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration-n/a
CrossFire-+
Enduro-n/a
FRTC-+
FreeSync-+
HD3D-n/a
LiquidVR-+
PowerTune-+
TressFX-+
TrueAudio-n/a
ZeroCore-+
UVD-+
VCE-+

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_0)DirectX® 12
Shader Model6.36.4
OpenGL4.64.5
OpenCL2.02.0
Vulkan1.2.131+
Mantle-n/a

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 18.11
RX 480 19.21
+6.1%

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
RX 480 8585
+6.1%

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
RX 480 12186
+2.7%

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 HD70−75
−10%
77
+10%
1440p45−50
−13.3%
51
+13.3%
4K30−35
−20%
36
+20%

Cost per frame, $

1080p5.70
−91.7%
2.97
+91.7%
1440p8.87
−97.5%
4.49
+97.5%
4K13.30
−109%
6.36
+109%
  • RX 480 has 92% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • RX 480 has 97% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • RX 480 has 109% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Battlefield 5 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Far Cry 5 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Fortnite 207
+0%
207
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 100
+0%
100
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Valorant 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Battlefield 5 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 285
+0%
285
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Dota 2 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Far Cry 5 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Fortnite 79
+0%
79
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 93
+0%
93
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 78
+0%
78
+0%
Metro Exodus 41
+0%
41
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 78
+0%
78
+0%
Valorant 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Dota 2 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Far Cry 5 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 77
+0%
77
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45
+0%
45
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 44
+0%
44
+0%
Valorant 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 65
+0%
65
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 37
+0%
37
+0%
Metro Exodus 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Valorant 241
+0%
241
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 39
+0%
39
+0%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 36
+0%
36
+0%
Metro Exodus 15
+0%
15
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 27
+0%
27
+0%
Valorant 120
+0%
120
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Dota 2 88
+0%
88
+0%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 16
+0%
16
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 18
+0%
18
+0%

This is how R9 290 and RX 480 compete in popular games:

  • RX 480 is 10% faster in 1080p
  • RX 480 is 13% faster in 1440p
  • RX 480 is 20% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score 18.11 19.21
Recency 5 November 2013 29 June 2016
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 8 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 275 Watt 150 Watt

RX 480 has a 6.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 83.3% lower power consumption.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Radeon R9 290 and Radeon RX 480.

Vote for your favorite

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
AMD Radeon RX 480
Radeon RX 480
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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.

4.1 585 votes

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4.2 1974 votes

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Comments

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