Radeon RX 6500 XT vs R9 290X

Place in performance ranking	272	204
Place by popularity	not in top-100	83
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	10.11	23.39
Architecture	GCN (2011−2017)	Navi / RDNA2 (2020−2022)
GPU code name	Hawaii XT	Navi 24
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	24 October 2013 (10 years ago)	19 January 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$549	$199
Current price	$20 (0x MSRP)	$274 (1.4x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6500 XT has 131% better value for money than R9 290X.

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	2816	1024
Core clock speed	no data	2610 MHz
Boost clock speed	947 MHz	2815 MHz
Number of transistors	6,200 million	5,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	250 Watt	107 Watt
Texture fill rate	176.0	180.2
Floating-point performance	5,632 gflops	no data

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 support	PCIe 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x4
Length	275 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin	1x 6-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 type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	512 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	1250 MHz	18000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	320 GB/s	143.9 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 Connectors	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a
Eyefinity	+	no data
HDMI	+	+
DisplayPort support	+	no data

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration	+	no data
CrossFire	1	no data
Enduro	-	no data
FreeSync	1	no data
HD3D	+	no data
LiquidVR	1	no data
PowerTune	-	no data
TressFX	1	no data
TrueAudio	+	no data
ZeroCore	-	no data
UVD	+	no data
DDMA audio	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 12	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.3	6.6
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	2.2
Vulkan	+	1.3
Mantle	-	no 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 290X 19.23

RX 6500 XT 24.69
+28.4%

RX 6500 XT outperforms R9 290X by 28% 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 290X 7425

RX 6500 XT 9535
+28.4%

RX 6500 XT outperforms R9 290X by 28% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

R9 290X 16168

RX 6500 XT 22954
+42%

RX 6500 XT outperforms R9 290X by 42% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

R9 290X 37284

RX 6500 XT 76445
+105%

RX 6500 XT outperforms R9 290X by 105% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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 290X 11717

RX 6500 XT 15712
+34.1%

RX 6500 XT outperforms R9 290X by 34% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

R9 290X 73987

RX 6500 XT 91909
+24.2%

RX 6500 XT outperforms R9 290X by 24% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 8%

R9 290X 332042

RX 6500 XT 356129
+7.3%

RX 6500 XT outperforms R9 290X by 7% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.

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	91 +49.2%	61 −49.2%
1440p	24−27 −33.3%	32 +33.3%
4K	54 +218%	17 −218%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

30−33

no data

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35	no data
Battlefield 5	60−65	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33	no data
Far Cry 5	45−50	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55	no data
Forza Horizon 4	85−90	no data
Hitman 3	35−40	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80	no data
Metro Exodus	60−65	no data
Red Dead Redemption 2	50−55	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60	no data

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35	no data
Battlefield 5	60−65	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33	no data
Far Cry 5	45−50	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55	no data
Forza Horizon 4	85−90	no data
Hitman 3	35−40	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80	no data
Metro Exodus	60−65	no data
Red Dead Redemption 2	50−55	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	75	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60	no data

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33	no data
Far Cry 5	45−50	no data
Forza Horizon 4	85−90	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	29	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60	no data

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

50−55

no data

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	35−40	no data

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	20−22	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	16−18	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	24−27	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12	no data
Far Cry 5	30−35	no data
Forza Horizon 4	35−40	no data
Hitman 3	21−24	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40	no data
Metro Exodus	35−40	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	35−40	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	12−14	no data

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

30−35

no data

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	18−20	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16	no data
Hitman 3	14−16	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	12−14	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	28	no data

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10−11	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−11	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5	no data
Far Cry 5	10−11	no data
Forza Horizon 4	24−27	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24	no data
Metro Exodus	18−20	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	8−9	no data

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18

no data

This is how R9 290X and RX 6500 XT compete in popular games:

R9 290X is 49% faster in 1080p
RX 6500 XT is 33% faster in 1440p
R9 290X is 218% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	19.23	24.69
Recency	24 October 2013	19 January 2022
Cost	$549	$199
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	250 Watt	107 Watt