GeForce GTX 970M vs Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire

Place in the ranking	294	354
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	6.58	12.65
Architecture	GCN (2012−2015)	Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)
GPU code name	Neptune CF	GM204
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	1 March 2014 (10 years ago)	7 October 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$2,560.89

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 cores	2560	1280
Core clock speed	850 MHz	924 MHz
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	1038 MHz
Number of transistors	2x 2800 Million	5,200 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	200 Watt	unknown
Texture fill rate	no data	83.04
Floating-point processing power	no data	2.657 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	48
TMUs	no data	80

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).

Laptop size	large	large
Bus support	no data	PCI Express 3.0
Interface	no data	MXM-B (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors	no data	None
SLI options	-	+

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	2x 4 GB	3 GB
Memory bus width	2x 256 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	4800 MHz	2500 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	120 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	no data	No outputs
VGA аnalog display support	no data	+
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support	no data	+
HDMI	-	+
G-SYNC support	-	+

Supported technologies

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

GameStream	-	+
GeForce ShadowPlay	-	+
GPU Boost	no data	2.0
GameWorks	-	+
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder	-	+
Optimus	-	+
BatteryBoost	-	+
Ansel	-	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (FL 11_1)	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	no data	6.4
OpenGL	no data	4.5
OpenCL	no data	1.1
Vulkan	-	1.1.126
CUDA	-	+

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 M290X Crossfire 19.08
+28.5%

GTX 970M 14.85

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 M290X Crossfire 14147
+43.2%

GTX 970M 9878

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 M290X Crossfire 32792
+13.7%

GTX 970M 28845

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 M290X Crossfire 10551
+41.4%

GTX 970M 7463

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 M290X Crossfire 71977
+40.5%

GTX 970M 51247

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 M290X Crossfire 122
+31.3%

GTX 970M 93

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:

900p	170−180 +25%	136 −25%
Full HD	62 +10.7%	56 −10.7%
1440p	30−35 +20%	25 −20%
4K	27−30 +22.7%	22 −22.7%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	45.73
1440p	no data	102.44
4K	no data	116.40

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +30.8%	24−27 −30.8%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +31%	27−30 −31%
Elden Ring	60−65 +33.3%	45−50 −33.3%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 +32.6%	46 −32.6%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +30.8%	24−27 −30.8%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +31%	27−30 −31%
Forza Horizon 4	80−85 +33.3%	60−65 −33.3%
Metro Exodus	50−55 +24.4%	41 −24.4%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +22.2%	35−40 −22.2%
Valorant	75−80 +30.5%	55−60 −30.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 +32.6%	46 −32.6%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +30.8%	24−27 −30.8%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +31%	27−30 −31%
Dota 2	65−70 +106%	33 −106%
Elden Ring	60−65 +33.3%	45−50 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	65−70 +18.2%	55−60 −18.2%
Fortnite	100−110 +72.9%	59 −72.9%
Forza Horizon 4	80−85 +33.3%	60−65 −33.3%
Grand Theft Auto V	65−70 +36.7%	49 −36.7%
Metro Exodus	50−55 +75.9%	29 −75.9%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	130−140 −14.6%	149 +14.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +22.2%	35−40 −22.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	60−65 +36.4%	44 −36.4%
Valorant	75−80 +30.5%	55−60 −30.5%
World of Tanks	220−230 +17.1%	190−200 −17.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 +52.5%	40 −52.5%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +30.8%	24−27 −30.8%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +31%	27−30 −31%
Dota 2	65−70 +28.3%	50−55 −28.3%
Far Cry 5	65−70 +18.2%	55−60 −18.2%
Forza Horizon 4	80−85 +33.3%	60−65 −33.3%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	130−140 +242%	38 −242%
Valorant	75−80 +30.5%	55−60 −30.5%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	30−33 +42.9%	21−24 −42.9%
Elden Ring	30−35 +34.8%	21−24 −34.8%
Grand Theft Auto V	30−33 +36.4%	21−24 −36.4%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	160−170 +29%	130−140 −29%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 +30.8%	12−14 −30.8%
World of Tanks	130−140 +25%	100−110 −25%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 +44.4%	27 −44.4%
Counter-Strike 2	16−18 +23.1%	12−14 −23.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 +36.4%	10−12 −36.4%
Far Cry 5	50−55 +38.9%	35−40 −38.9%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +36.1%	35−40 −36.1%
Metro Exodus	40−45 +72%	25 −72%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 +36.8%	18−20 −36.8%
Valorant	45−50 +32.4%	35−40 −32.4%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	14−16 +50%	10−11 −50%
Dota 2	30−35 −3.1%	33 +3.1%
Elden Ring	14−16 +40%	10−11 −40%
Grand Theft Auto V	30−35 −3.1%	33 +3.1%
Metro Exodus	14−16 +100%	7 −100%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	55−60 +50%	38 −50%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 +20%	10−11 −20%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 −3.1%	33 +3.1%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	18−20 +46.2%	13 −46.2%
Counter-Strike 2	14−16 +50%	10−11 −50%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
Dota 2	30−35 +23.1%	24−27 −23.1%
Far Cry 5	24−27 +26.3%	18−20 −26.3%
Fortnite	21−24 +53.3%	15 −53.3%
Forza Horizon 4	27−30 +33.3%	21−24 −33.3%
Valorant	21−24 +37.5%	16−18 −37.5%

This is how R9 M290X Crossfire and GTX 970M compete in popular games:

R9 M290X Crossfire is 25% faster in 900p
R9 M290X Crossfire is 11% faster in 1080p
R9 M290X Crossfire is 20% faster in 1440p
R9 M290X Crossfire is 23% faster in 4K

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

in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the R9 M290X Crossfire is 242% faster.
in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 970M is 15% faster.

All in all, in popular games: