Radeon RX 590 vs R9 M385

Place in the ranking	614	229
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	25.03
Power efficiency	no data	9.55
Architecture	GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code name	Strato	Polaris 30
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	5 May 2015 (9 years ago)	15 November 2018 (6 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$279

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	896	2304
Core clock speed	900 MHz	1469 MHz
Boost clock speed	1100 MHz	1545 MHz
Number of transistors	2,080 million	5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	no data	175 Watt
Texture fill rate	56.00	222.5
Floating-point processing power	1.792 TFLOPS	7.119 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	32
TMUs	56	144

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	medium sized	no data
Bus support	PCIe 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	no data	241 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 8-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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1500 MHz	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	76.8 GB/s	256.0 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 outputs	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Eyefinity	+	-
HDMI	-	+

Supported technologies

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

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

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 12	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	6.3	6.4
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	Not Listed	2.0
Vulkan	-	1.2.131
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 M385 5.35

RX 590 24.38
+356%

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 M385 2060

RX 590 9393
+356%

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	21−24 −381%	101 +381%
1440p	12−14 −383%	58 +383%
4K	7−8 −400%	35 +400%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	2.76
1440p	no data	4.81
4K	no data	7.97

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

9−10

−344%

40−45
+344%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −364%	65 +364%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 −1333%	86 +1333%
Battlefield 5	14−16 −871%	136 +871%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 −527%	69 +527%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −344%	40−45 +344%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −650%	90 +650%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 −500%	90 +500%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 −706%	274 +706%
Hitman 3	10−12 −345%	45−50 +345%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 −785%	301 +785%
Metro Exodus	12−14 −854%	124 +854%
Red Dead Redemption 2	14−16 −550%	91 +550%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 −637%	140 +637%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −467%	272 +467%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −707%	113 +707%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 −1117%	73 +1117%
Battlefield 5	14−16 −771%	122 +771%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 −482%	64 +482%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −344%	40−45 +344%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −517%	74 +517%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 −373%	71 +373%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 −662%	259 +662%
Hitman 3	10−12 −345%	45−50 +345%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 −744%	287 +744%
Metro Exodus	12−14 −646%	97 +646%
Red Dead Redemption 2	14−16 −429%	74 +429%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 −500%	114 +500%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −194%	50−55 +194%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −444%	261 +444%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −179%	39 +179%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 −933%	62 +933%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 −318%	46 +318%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −344%	40−45 +344%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −358%	55 +358%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 −168%	91 +168%
Hitman 3	10−12 −345%	45−50 +345%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 −182%	96 +182%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 −426%	100 +426%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −183%	51 +183%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +37.1%	35 −37.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16

−357%

64
+357%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 −360%	45−50 +360%
Far Cry New Dawn	8−9 −363%	35−40 +363%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −400%	24−27 +400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	55
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −660%	38 +660%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −650%	14−16 +650%
Far Cry 5	6−7 −367%	27−30 +367%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 −969%	130−140 +969%
Hitman 3	9−10 −222%	27−30 +222%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −500%	72 +500%
Metro Exodus	3−4 −1833%	58 +1833%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	4−5 −650%	30−33 +650%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −497%	203 +497%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11

−330%

43
+330%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −875%	39 +875%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 −550%	26 +550%
Hitman 3	1−2 −1800%	18−20 +1800%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−11 −470%	57 +470%
Metro Exodus	2−3 −1700%	36 +1700%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 −3100%	32 +3100%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −533%	19 +533%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −2000%	42 +2000%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 −900%	20 +900%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	6−7
Far Cry 5	3−4 −467%	17 +467%
Forza Horizon 4	5−6 −820%	46 +820%
Watch Dogs: Legion	2−3 −550%	13 +550%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7

−400%

30
+400%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

+0%

This is how R9 M385 and RX 590 compete in popular games:

RX 590 is 381% faster in 1080p
RX 590 is 383% faster in 1440p
RX 590 is 400% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the R9 M385 is 37% faster.
in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the RX 590 is 3100% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

R9 M385 is ahead in 1 test (1%)
RX 590 is ahead in 67 tests (96%)
there's a draw in 2 tests (3%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	5.35	24.38
Recency	5 May 2015	15 November 2018
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	12 nm

RX 590 has a 355.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 133.3% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 590 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 M385 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon R9 M385 is a notebook card while Radeon RX 590 is a desktop one.

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