Radeon RX Vega 11 vs R9 290X

Place in performance ranking	272	574
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	10.11	0.72
Architecture	GCN (2011−2017)	Vega (2017−2021)
GPU code name	Hawaii XT	Vega Raven Ridge
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	24 October 2013 (10 years ago)	26 October 2017 (6 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$549	no data
Current price	$20 (0x MSRP)	$475

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 290X has 1304% better value for money than RX Vega 11.

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	704
Boost clock speed	947 MHz	1240 MHz
Number of transistors	6,200 million	4,940 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	250 Watt	65 Watt
Texture fill rate	176.0	61.60
Floating-point performance	5,632 gflops	1,760 gflops

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	IGP
Length	275 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	IGP
Supplementary power connectors	1 x 6-pin + 1 x 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	System Shared
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	System Shared
Memory bus width	512 Bit	System Shared
Memory clock speed	1250 MHz	System Shared
Memory bandwidth	320 GB/s	no data
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	No outputs
Eyefinity	+	no data
HDMI	+	no data
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 (12_1)
Shader Model	6.3	6.4
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	2.0
Vulkan	+	1.2.131
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
+250%

RX Vega 11 5.49

R9 290X outperforms RX Vega 11 by 250% 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
+250%

RX Vega 11 2120

R9 290X outperforms RX Vega 11 by 250% 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
+195%

RX Vega 11 5483

R9 290X outperforms RX Vega 11 by 195% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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
+235%

RX Vega 11 3494

R9 290X outperforms RX Vega 11 by 235% 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
+255%

RX Vega 11 20848

R9 290X outperforms RX Vega 11 by 255% 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
+111%

RX Vega 11 157382

R9 290X outperforms RX Vega 11 by 111% 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 +214%	29 −214%
1440p	21−24 +250%	6 −250%
4K	54 +350%	12 −350%

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