Radeon 520 vs R9 290X

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 290X with Radeon 520, including specs and performance data.

R9 290X
2013
4 GB GDDR5, 250 Watt
19.27
+845%

R9 290X outperforms 520 by a whopping 845% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking290882
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation4.90no data
Power efficiency4.552.80
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code nameHawaiiBanks
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date24 October 2013 (11 years ago)18 April 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$549 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores2816320
Core clock speedno data1030 MHz
Boost clock speed947 MHzno data
Number of transistors6,200 million690 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)250 Watt50 Watt
Texture fill rate176.020.60
Floating-point processing power5.632 TFLOPS0.6592 TFLOPS
ROPs648
TMUs17620

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 supportPCIe 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x8
Length275 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pinNone

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 GB2 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz1125 MHz
Memory bandwidth320 GB/s36 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 DisplayPortNo outputs
Eyefinity+-
HDMI+-
DisplayPort support+-

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration+-
CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
HD3D+-
LiquidVR+-
TressFX+-
TrueAudio+-
UVD+-
DDMA audio+no data

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1212 (11_1)
Shader Model6.35.1
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL2.01.2
Vulkan+1.2.131

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. 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 290X 19.27
+845%
Radeon 520 2.04

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 290X 7425
+843%
Radeon 520 787

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

R9 290X 16168
+702%
Radeon 520 2017

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

R9 290X 37284
+608%
Radeon 520 5266

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 290X 11717
+788%
Radeon 520 1319

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

R9 290X 73987
+779%
Radeon 520 8413

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

R9 290X 332042
+328%
Radeon 520 77543

Unigine Heaven 3.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark using Unigine, a 3D game engine by eponymous Russian company. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. Version 3.0 was released in 2012, and in 2013 it was superseded by Heaven 4.0, which introduced several slight improvements, including a newer version of Unigine.

R9 290X 140
+1067%
Radeon 520 12

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 HD86
+514%
14
−514%
4K49
+880%
5−6
−880%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.38no data
4K11.20no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+650%
4−5
−650%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45
+514%
7−8
−514%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
+967%
3−4
−967%
Battlefield 5 60−65
+6200%
1−2
−6200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+680%
5−6
−680%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+650%
4−5
−650%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+1400%
3−4
−1400%
Far Cry New Dawn 50−55
+940%
5−6
−940%
Forza Horizon 4 120−130
+1400%
8−9
−1400%
Hitman 3 35−40
+429%
7−8
−429%
Horizon Zero Dawn 90−95
+417%
18−20
−417%
Metro Exodus 65−70
+1000%
6−7
−1000%
Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
+1200%
4−5
−1200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 60−65
+530%
10−11
−530%
Watch Dogs: Legion 90−95
+150%
35−40
−150%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45
+514%
7−8
−514%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
+967%
3−4
−967%
Battlefield 5 60−65
+6200%
1−2
−6200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+680%
5−6
−680%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+650%
4−5
−650%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+1400%
3−4
−1400%
Far Cry New Dawn 50−55
+940%
5−6
−940%
Forza Horizon 4 120−130
+1400%
8−9
−1400%
Hitman 3 35−40
+429%
7−8
−429%
Horizon Zero Dawn 90−95
+417%
18−20
−417%
Metro Exodus 65−70
+1000%
6−7
−1000%
Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
+1200%
4−5
−1200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 60−65
+530%
10−11
−530%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 137
+661%
18
−661%
Watch Dogs: Legion 90−95
+150%
35−40
−150%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45
+514%
7−8
−514%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
+967%
3−4
−967%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+680%
5−6
−680%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+650%
4−5
−650%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+1400%
3−4
−1400%
Forza Horizon 4 120−130
+1400%
8−9
−1400%
Hitman 3 35−40
+429%
7−8
−429%
Horizon Zero Dawn 90−95
+417%
18−20
−417%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 60−65
+530%
10−11
−530%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 29
+383%
6
−383%
Watch Dogs: Legion 90−95
+150%
35−40
−150%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
+1200%
4−5
−1200%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
+1133%
3−4
−1133%
Far Cry New Dawn 27−30
+867%
3−4
−867%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 20−22
+900%
2−3
−900%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 16−18
+1600%
1−2
−1600%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
+2000%
1−2
−2000%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
+1000%
1−2
−1000%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+1000%
2−3
−1000%
Forza Horizon 4 100−110
+960%
10−11
−960%
Hitman 3 21−24
+229%
7−8
−229%
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
+550%
6−7
−550%
Metro Exodus 35−40
+1100%
3−4
−1100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+875%
4−5
−875%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
+2100%
1−2
−2100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 110−120
+936%
10−12
−936%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+540%
5−6
−540%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
+850%
2−3
−850%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
+1400%
1−2
−1400%
Hitman 3 14−16
+1400%
1−2
−1400%
Horizon Zero Dawn 95−100
+890%
10−11
−890%
Metro Exodus 20−22
+900%
2−3
−900%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 28
+1300%
2−3
−1300%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+450%
2−3
−450%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5 0−1
Far Cry 5 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+1200%
2−3
−1200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 21−24
+950%
2−3
−950%
Watch Dogs: Legion 8−9 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+467%
3−4
−467%

This is how R9 290X and Radeon 520 compete in popular games:

  • R9 290X is 514% faster in 1080p
  • R9 290X is 880% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Battlefield 5, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the R9 290X is 6200% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, R9 290X surpassed Radeon 520 in all 54 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 19.27 2.04
Recency 24 October 2013 18 April 2017
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 2 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 50 Watt

R9 290X has a 844.6% higher aggregate performance score, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.

Radeon 520, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 3 years, and 400% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 290X is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon 520 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon R9 290X is a desktop card while Radeon 520 is a notebook one.


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

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AMD Radeon R9 290X
Radeon R9 290X
AMD Radeon 520
Radeon 520

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

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


4.1 454 votes

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.