GeForce RTX 3090 vs Radeon R9 M390X

Place in the ranking	470	24
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	14.89
Power efficiency	8.60	13.70
Architecture	GCN 3.0 (2014−2019)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Amethyst	GA102
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	5 May 2015 (9 years ago)	1 September 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$1,499

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	2048	10496
Core clock speed	723 MHz	1395 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1695 MHz
Number of transistors	5,000 million	28,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	350 Watt
Texture fill rate	92.54	556.0
Floating-point processing power	2.961 TFLOPS	35.58 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	112
TMUs	128	328
Tensor Cores	no data	328
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	82

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	no data
Bus support	PCIe 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	no data	336 mm
Width	no data	3-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	1x 12-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	GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	24 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	no data	1219 MHz
Memory bandwidth	160.0 GB/s	936.2 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	+	-
ZeroCore	+	-
Switchable graphics	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 12	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.3	6.5
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	Not Listed	2.0
Vulkan	+	1.2
Mantle	+	-
CUDA	-	8.5

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 M390X 9.32

RTX 3090 69.29
+643%

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 M390X 3597

RTX 3090 26730
+643%

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 M390X 9448

RTX 3090 61518
+551%

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	27−30 −652%	203 +652%
1440p	16−18 −719%	131 +719%
4K	12−14 −650%	90 +650%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	7.38
1440p	no data	11.44
4K	no data	16.66

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

14−16

−1280%

207
+1280%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −623%	159 +623%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 −714%	114 +714%
Battlefield 5	27−30 −666%	220−230 +666%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 −526%	110−120 +526%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −1073%	176 +1073%
Far Cry 5	21−24 −457%	110−120 +457%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 −550%	160−170 +550%
Forza Horizon 4	60−65 −284%	230−240 +284%
Hitman 3	18−20 −550%	117 +550%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 −387%	250−260 +387%
Metro Exodus	27−30 −397%	144 +397%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 −400%	130 +400%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 −842%	290−300 +842%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −228%	200 +228%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −1023%	247 +1023%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 −650%	105 +650%
Battlefield 5	27−30 −666%	220−230 +666%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 −526%	110−120 +526%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −907%	151 +907%
Far Cry 5	21−24 −457%	110−120 +457%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 −550%	160−170 +550%
Forza Horizon 4	60−65 −284%	230−240 +284%
Hitman 3	18−20 −550%	117 +550%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 −387%	250−260 +387%
Metro Exodus	27−30 −397%	144 +397%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 −369%	120−130 +369%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 −1197%	402 +1197%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 −473%	140−150 +473%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −226%	199 +226%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −391%	108 +391%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 −550%	91 +550%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 −526%	110−120 +526%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −793%	134 +793%
Far Cry 5	21−24 −457%	110−120 +457%
Forza Horizon 4	60−65 −250%	217 +250%
Hitman 3	18−20 −544%	116 +544%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 −467%	295 +467%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−35 −1032%	351 +1032%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 −596%	181 +596%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −75.4%	107 +75.4%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

24−27

−396%

129
+396%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	18−20 −817%	160−170 +817%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 −686%	110−120 +686%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	9−10 −933%	93 +933%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 −1480%	79 +1480%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 −800%	80−85 +800%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −2225%	93 +2225%
Far Cry 5	10−12 −636%	80−85 +636%
Forza Horizon 4	40−45 −578%	270−280 +578%
Hitman 3	12−14 −858%	115 +858%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 −1126%	233 +1126%
Metro Exodus	12−14 −969%	139 +969%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 −2318%	266 +2318%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 −1589%	152 +1589%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 −244%	203 +244%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16

−747%

127
+747%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	9−10 −867%	85−90 +867%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 −886%	65−70 +886%
Hitman 3	5−6 −1560%	83 +1560%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −495%	220−230 +495%
Metro Exodus	7−8 −1914%	141 +1914%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	7−8 −2086%	153 +2086%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −1300%	70 +1300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5 −1325%	57 +1325%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −1175%	50−55 +1175%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −4500%	46 +4500%
Far Cry 5	5−6 −900%	50−55 +900%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 −1291%	153 +1291%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	6−7 −2550%	159 +2550%
Watch Dogs: Legion	3−4 −1900%	60 +1900%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10

−1133%

111
+1133%

This is how R9 M390X and RTX 3090 compete in popular games:

RTX 3090 is 652% faster in 1080p
RTX 3090 is 719% faster in 1440p
RTX 3090 is 650% faster in 4K

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

in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 3090 is 4500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, RTX 3090 surpassed R9 M390X in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	9.32	69.29
Recency	5 May 2015	1 September 2020
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	24 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	350 Watt

R9 M390X has 250% lower power consumption.

RTX 3090, on the other hand, has a 643.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 250% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 3090 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 M390X in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon R9 M390X is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 3090 is a desktop one.

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