Radeon R9 M290X vs R9 M290X Crossfire

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire and Radeon R9 M290X, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 M290X Crossfire
2014
2x 4 GB GDDR5, 200 Watt
19.08
+123%

R9 M290X Crossfire outperforms R9 M290X by a whopping 123% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking294500
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency6.585.89
ArchitectureGCN (2012−2015)GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code nameNeptune CFNeptune
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 March 2014 (10 years ago)9 January 2014 (11 years ago)

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 cores25601280
Compute unitsno data20
Core clock speed850 MHz850 MHz
Boost clock speed900 MHz900 MHz
Number of transistors2x 2800 Million2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Watt100 Watt
Texture fill rateno data72.00
Floating-point processing powerno data2.304 TFLOPS
ROPsno data32
TMUsno data80

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 sizelargelarge
Bus supportno dataPCIe 3.0 x16
Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone

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 amount2x 4 GB4 GB
Memory bus width2x 256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed4800 MHz1200 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data153.6 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 Connectorsno dataNo outputs
Eyefinity-+

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync-+
HD3D-+
PowerTune-+
DualGraphics-+
ZeroCore-+
Switchable graphics-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (FL 11_1)DirectX® 11
Shader Modelno data5.1
OpenGLno data4.4
OpenCLno dataNot Listed
Mantle-+

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
+123%
R9 M290X 8.54

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
+108%
R9 M290X 6817

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
+36.9%
R9 M290X 23961

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
+99.3%
R9 M290X 5294

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
+117%
R9 M290X 33147

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
+96.9%
R9 M290X 62

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 HD62
+34.8%
46
−34.8%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+100%
16−18
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+124%
16−18
−124%
Elden Ring 60−65
+150%
24−27
−150%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 60−65
+118%
27−30
−118%
Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+100%
16−18
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+124%
16−18
−124%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+135%
30−35
−135%
Metro Exodus 50−55
+122%
21−24
−122%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+91.3%
21−24
−91.3%
Valorant 75−80
+157%
30−33
−157%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 60−65
+118%
27−30
−118%
Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+100%
16−18
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+124%
16−18
−124%
Dota 2 65−70
+127%
30−33
−127%
Elden Ring 60−65
+150%
24−27
−150%
Far Cry 5 65−70
+80.6%
35−40
−80.6%
Fortnite 100−110
+104%
50−55
−104%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+135%
30−35
−135%
Grand Theft Auto V 65−70
+123%
30−33
−123%
Metro Exodus 50−55
+122%
21−24
−122%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 130−140
+94%
65−70
−94%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+91.3%
21−24
−91.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 60−65
+71.4%
35
−71.4%
Valorant 75−80
+157%
30−33
−157%
World of Tanks 220−230
+78%
120−130
−78%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 60−65
+118%
27−30
−118%
Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+100%
16−18
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+124%
16−18
−124%
Dota 2 65−70
+127%
30−33
−127%
Far Cry 5 65−70
+80.6%
35−40
−80.6%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+135%
30−35
−135%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 130−140
+94%
65−70
−94%
Valorant 75−80
+157%
30−33
−157%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 30−33
+200%
10−11
−200%
Elden Ring 30−35
+182%
10−12
−182%
Grand Theft Auto V 30−33
+200%
10−11
−200%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 160−170
+302%
40−45
−302%
Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
World of Tanks 130−140
+110%
60−65
−110%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
+144%
16−18
−144%
Counter-Strike 2 16−18
+60%
10−11
−60%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+150%
6−7
−150%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+178%
18−20
−178%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+188%
16−18
−188%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+187%
14−16
−187%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+160%
10−11
−160%
Valorant 45−50
+133%
21−24
−133%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 14−16
+400%
3−4
−400%
Dota 2 30−35
+68.4%
18−20
−68.4%
Elden Ring 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Grand Theft Auto V 30−35
+68.4%
18−20
−68.4%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+250%
4−5
−250%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 55−60
+128%
24−27
−128%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+140%
5−6
−140%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+68.4%
18−20
−68.4%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
+171%
7−8
−171%
Counter-Strike 2 14−16
+400%
3−4
−400%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%
Dota 2 30−35
+68.4%
18−20
−68.4%
Far Cry 5 24−27
+140%
10−11
−140%
Fortnite 21−24
+156%
9−10
−156%
Forza Horizon 4 27−30
+180%
10−11
−180%
Valorant 21−24
+175%
8−9
−175%

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

  • R9 M290X Crossfire is 35% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Counter-Strike 2, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the R9 M290X Crossfire is 400% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, R9 M290X Crossfire surpassed R9 M290X in all 63 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 19.08 8.54
Recency 1 March 2014 9 January 2014
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt 100 Watt

R9 M290X Crossfire has a 123.4% higher aggregate performance score, and an age advantage of 1 month.

R9 M290X, on the other hand, has 100% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 M290X in performance tests.


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 M290X Crossfire
Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire
AMD Radeon R9 M290X
Radeon R9 M290X

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Community ratings

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