GeForce GTX 590 vs Radeon RX 470

Place in the ranking	268	501
Place by popularity	42	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	17.51	0.76
Power efficiency	12.06	1.64
Architecture	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)	Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014)
GPU code name	Ellesmere	GF110
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	4 August 2016 (8 years ago)	24 March 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$179	$699

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

RX 470 has 2204% better value for money than GTX 590.

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	1024
Core clock speed	926 MHz	607 MHz
Boost clock speed	1206 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	5,700 million	3,000 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	365 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	no data	97 °C
Texture fill rate	154.4	38.91
Floating-point processing power	4.94 TFLOPS	1.244 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	48
TMUs	128	64

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).

Bus support	no data	16x PCI-E 2.0
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	241 mm	279 mm
Height	no data	4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	2x 8-pin
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	4 GB	3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU)
Memory bus width	256 Bit	768-bit (384-bit per GPU)
Memory clock speed	1650 MHz	1707 MHz
Memory bandwidth	211.2 GB/s	327.7 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	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort	Three Dual Link DVI-IMini DisplayPort
Multi monitor support	no data	+
HDMI	+	+
Maximum VGA resolution	no data	2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI	no data	Internal

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12 (11_0)
Shader Model	6.4	5.1
OpenGL	4.6	4.2
OpenCL	2.0	1.1
Vulkan	1.2.131	N/A
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.

RX 470 20.50
+142%

GTX 590 8.46

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.

RX 470 8096
+142%

GTX 590 3341

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.

RX 470 17625
+92.3%

GTX 590 9167

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.

RX 470 11885
+77.9%

GTX 590 6680

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	110−120 +134%	47 −134%
Full HD	71 −52.1%	108 +52.1%
1200p	270−280 +141%	112 −141%
1440p	39 +144%	16−18 −144%
4K	38 +171%	14−16 −171%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	2.52 +157%	6.47 −157%
1440p	4.59 +852%	43.69 −852%
4K	4.71 +960%	49.93 −960%

RX 470 has 157% lower cost per frame in 1080p
RX 470 has 852% lower cost per frame in 1440p
RX 470 has 960% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	35−40 +124%	16−18 −124%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +147%	16−18 −147%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +136%	27−30 −136%
Counter-Strike 2	35−40 +124%	16−18 −124%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +147%	16−18 −147%
Forza Horizon 4	105 +200%	35−40 −200%
Forza Horizon 5	55−60 +167%	21−24 −167%
Metro Exodus	74 +222%	21−24 −222%
Red Dead Redemption 2	45−50 +100%	24−27 −100%
Valorant	85−90 +166%	30−35 −166%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +136%	27−30 −136%
Counter-Strike 2	35−40 +124%	16−18 −124%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +147%	16−18 −147%
Dota 2	48 +54.8%	30−35 −54.8%
Far Cry 5	52 +44.4%	35−40 −44.4%
Fortnite	110−120 +116%	50−55 −116%
Forza Horizon 4	88 +151%	35−40 −151%
Forza Horizon 5	55−60 +167%	21−24 −167%
Grand Theft Auto V	73 +135%	30−35 −135%
Metro Exodus	34 +47.8%	21−24 −47.8%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	71 +4.4%	65−70 −4.4%
Red Dead Redemption 2	45−50 +100%	24−27 −100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	65−70 +158%	24−27 −158%
Valorant	85−90 +166%	30−35 −166%
World of Tanks	230−240 +84.5%	120−130 −84.5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +136%	27−30 −136%
Counter-Strike 2	35−40 +124%	16−18 −124%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +147%	16−18 −147%
Dota 2	70−75 +139%	30−35 −139%
Far Cry 5	65−70 +88.9%	35−40 −88.9%
Forza Horizon 4	67 +91.4%	35−40 −91.4%
Forza Horizon 5	55−60 +167%	21−24 −167%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	59 −15.3%	65−70 +15.3%
Valorant	85−90 +166%	30−35 −166%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	33 +200%	10−12 −200%
Grand Theft Auto V	33 +200%	10−12 −200%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	170−180 +300%	40−45 −300%
Red Dead Redemption 2	18−20 +171%	7−8 −171%
World of Tanks	140−150 +125%	60−65 −125%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	40−45 +169%	16−18 −169%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 +143%	7−8 −143%
Far Cry 5	55−60 +222%	18−20 −222%
Forza Horizon 4	51 +168%	18−20 −168%
Forza Horizon 5	30−35 +154%	12−14 −154%
Metro Exodus	46 +207%	14−16 −207%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−33 +150%	12−14 −150%
Valorant	55−60 +150%	21−24 −150%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +350%	2−3 −350%
Dota 2	33 +73.7%	18−20 −73.7%
Grand Theft Auto V	33 +73.7%	18−20 −73.7%
Metro Exodus	16−18 +300%	4−5 −300%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	62 +148%	24−27 −148%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 +117%	6−7 −117%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	33 +73.7%	18−20 −73.7%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	21−24 +200%	7−8 −200%
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +350%	2−3 −350%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +133%	3−4 −133%
Dota 2	86 +353%	18−20 −353%
Far Cry 5	27−30 +170%	10−11 −170%
Fortnite	25 +178%	9−10 −178%
Forza Horizon 4	25 +127%	10−12 −127%
Forza Horizon 5	16−18 +183%	6−7 −183%
Valorant	24−27 +225%	8−9 −225%

This is how RX 470 and GTX 590 compete in popular games:

RX 470 is 134% faster in 900p
GTX 590 is 52% faster in 1080p
RX 470 is 141% faster in 1200p
RX 470 is 144% faster in 1440p
RX 470 is 171% faster in 4K

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

in Dota 2, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 470 is 353% faster.
in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 590 is 15% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RX 470 is ahead in 62 tests (98%)
GTX 590 is ahead in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	20.50	8.46
Recency	4 August 2016	24 March 2011
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU)
Chip lithography	14 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	365 Watt

RX 470 has a 142.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 33.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 185.7% more advanced lithography process, and 204.2% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 470 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 590 in performance tests.

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