NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M vs AMD Radeon R9 M390

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General info

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

Place in performance ranking416450
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for moneyno data2.87
ArchitectureGCN (2011−2017)Kepler (2012−2018)
GPU code namePitcairnN15P-GT
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date9 June 2015 (8 years old)12 March 2014 (10 years old)
Current priceno data$403
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Technical specs

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 cores10241344
CUDA coresno data1344
Core clock speedno data941 MHz
Boost clock speedno data967 MHz
Number of transistors5000 Million3,540 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data100 Watt
Texture fill rateno data108.3
Floating-point performanceno data2,599 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on Radeon R9 M390 and GeForce GTX 870M compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop sizelargelarge
Bus supportPCIe 3.0PCI Express 2.0, PCI Express 3.0
Interfaceno dataMXM-B (3.0)
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone
SLI optionsno data+

Memory

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 amount2 GB6 GB
Standard memory configurationno dataGDDR5
Memory bus width256 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speedno dataUp to 2500 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data120.0 GB/s
Shared memory--

Video outputs and ports

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
Eyefinity1no data
eDP 1.2 signal supportno dataUp to 3840x2160
LVDS signal supportno dataUp to 1920x1200
VGA аnalog display supportno dataUp to 2048x1536
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) supportno dataUp to 3840x2160
HDMIno data+
HDCP content protectionno data+
7.1 channel HD audio on HDMIno data+
TrueHD and DTS-HD audio bitstreamingno data+

Technologies

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

AppAcceleration-no data
Enduro-no data
FreeSync1no data
HD3D+no data
PowerTune+no data
DualGraphics1no data
TrueAudio-no data
ZeroCore+no data
Switchable graphics1no data
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoderno data+
Optimusno data+

API support

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

DirectXDirectX® 1212 (11_0)
Shader Modelno data5.1
OpenGL4.44.5
OpenCLNot Listed1.1
Vulkanno data1.1.126
Mantle+no data
CUDAno 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 M390
9.80
+10.1%

Radeon R9 M390 outperforms GeForce GTX 870M by 10% in our combined benchmark results.


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 M390 6819
GTX 870M 7156
+4.9%

GeForce GTX 870M outperforms Radeon R9 M390 by 5% in 3DMark 11 Performance 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 HD43
−7%
46
+7%
4K20
+5.3%
19
−5.3%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 20−22
+11.1%
18−20
−11.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
+16.7%
12−14
−16.7%
Battlefield 5 30−35
+10%
30−33
−10%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+8.3%
24−27
−8.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%
Far Cry 5 24−27
+13.6%
21−24
−13.6%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+13%
21−24
−13%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+9.7%
30−35
−9.7%
Hitman 3 24−27
+13.6%
21−24
−13.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 20−22
+11.1%
18−20
−11.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+6.3%
16−18
−6.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 21−24
+10.5%
18−20
−10.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 16−18
+13.3%
14−16
−13.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 20−22
+11.1%
18−20
−11.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
+16.7%
12−14
−16.7%
Battlefield 5 30−35
+10%
30−33
−10%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27
+8.3%
24−27
−8.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%
Far Cry 5 24−27
+13.6%
21−24
−13.6%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+13%
21−24
−13%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+9.7%
30−35
−9.7%
Hitman 3 24−27
+13.6%
21−24
−13.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 20−22
+11.1%
18−20
−11.1%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+7.7%
12−14
−7.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+6.3%
16−18
−6.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 21−24
+10.5%
18−20
−10.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 31
+10.7%
28
−10.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 16−18
+13.3%
14−16
−13.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 20−22
+11.1%
18−20
−11.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
+16.7%
12−14
−16.7%
Battlefield 5 30−35
+10%
30−33
−10%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%
Far Cry 5 24−27
+13.6%
21−24
−13.6%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+13%
21−24
−13%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+9.7%
30−35
−9.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18
+20%
15
−20%
Watch Dogs: Legion 16−18
+13.3%
14−16
−13.3%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+7.7%
12−14
−7.7%
Hitman 3 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%
Metro Exodus 8−9
+14.3%
7−8
−14.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+16.7%
6−7
−16.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+8.3%
12−14
−8.3%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 9−10
+28.6%
7−8
−28.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Battlefield 5 16−18
+23.1%
12−14
−23.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+25%
4−5
−25%
Far Cry 5 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 16−18
+14.3%
14−16
−14.3%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+13.3%
14−16
−13.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−11
+11.1%
9−10
−11.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
+25%
4−5
−25%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
+16.7%
6−7
−16.7%
Hitman 3 9−10
+12.5%
8−9
−12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 9−10
+12.5%
8−9
−12.5%
Metro Exodus 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6
+25%
4−5
−25%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12
+100%
6−7
−100%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
+25%
4−5
−25%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+33.3%
3−4
−33.3%
Battlefield 5 8−9
+33.3%
6−7
−33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+14.3%
7−8
−14.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 12−14
+9.1%
10−12
−9.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4
+50%
2−3
−50%

This is how R9 M390 and GTX 870M compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • GTX 870M is 7% faster than R9 M390

4K resolution:

  • R9 M390 is 5.3% faster than GTX 870M

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the R9 M390 is 100% faster than the GTX 870M.

All in all, in popular games:

  • R9 M390 is ahead in 64 tests (94%)
  • there's a draw in 4 tests (6%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 9.80 8.90
Recency 9 June 2015 12 March 2014
Memory bus width 256 192
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 6 GB
Pipelines / CUDA cores 1024 1344

The Radeon R9 M390 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 870M in performance tests.


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

Cast your own vote

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon R9 M390
Radeon R9 M390
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M
GeForce GTX 870M

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User ratings: view and submit

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3.4 12 votes

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3.9 99 votes

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Questions and comments

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