NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 vs AMD Radeon R9 290X

Comparative analysis of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 and AMD Radeon R9 290X videocards for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Technical info, Video outputs and ports, Compatibility, dimensions and requirements, API support, Memory, Technologies. Benchmark videocards performance analysis: PassMark - G3D Mark, PassMark - G2D Mark, Geekbench - OpenCL, CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps), 3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score.

 

Differences

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960

  • Videocard is newer: launch date 1 year(s) 2 month(s) later
  • Around 24% higher boost clock speed: 1178 MHz vs 947 MHz
  • 2.1x lower typical power consumption: 120 Watt vs 250 Watt
Launch date 22 January 2015 vs 24 October 2013
Boost clock speed 1178 MHz vs 947 MHz
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 120 Watt vs 250 Watt

Reasons to consider the AMD Radeon R9 290X

  • 2.4x more texture fill rate: 176.0 GTexel / s vs 72 billion / sec
  • 2.8x more pipelines: 2816 vs 1024
  • 2.3x better floating-point performance: 5,632 gflops vs 2,413 gflops
  • 2x more maximum memory size: 4 GB vs 2 GB
  • 178.6x more memory clock speed: 1250 MHz vs 7.0 GB/s
  • Around 42% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 8623 vs 6080
  • Around 14% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 766 vs 673
  • 2.3x better performance in Geekbench - OpenCL: 43456 vs 18677
  • Around 56% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s): 114.883 vs 73.733
  • 3.1x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s): 2460.464 vs 792.44
  • 2.3x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s): 11.12 vs 4.888
  • 3.4x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s): 120.942 vs 35.338
  • 3.1x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s): 628.757 vs 200.825
  • Around 21% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames): 8729 vs 7218
  • Around 91% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames): 7055 vs 3691
  • Around 1% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames): 3353 vs 3335
  • Around 21% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps): 8729 vs 7218
  • Around 91% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps): 7055 vs 3691
  • Around 1% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps): 3353 vs 3335
  • Around 72% better performance in 3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score: 3927 vs 2284
Specifications (specs)
Texture fill rate 176.0 GTexel / s vs 72 billion / sec
Pipelines 2816 vs 1024
Floating-point performance 5,632 gflops vs 2,413 gflops
Maximum memory size 4 GB vs 2 GB
Memory clock speed 1250 MHz vs 7.0 GB/s
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark 8623 vs 6080
PassMark - G2D Mark 766 vs 673
Geekbench - OpenCL 43456 vs 18677
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s) 114.883 vs 73.733
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s) 2460.464 vs 792.44
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s) 11.12 vs 4.888
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s) 120.942 vs 35.338
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s) 628.757 vs 200.825
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames) 8729 vs 7218
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames) 7055 vs 3691
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames) 3353 vs 3335
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps) 8729 vs 7218
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps) 7055 vs 3691
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps) 3353 vs 3335
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score 3927 vs 2284

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
GPU 2: AMD Radeon R9 290X

PassMark - G3D Mark
GPU 1
GPU 2
6080
8623
PassMark - G2D Mark
GPU 1
GPU 2
673
766
Geekbench - OpenCL
GPU 1
GPU 2
18677
43456
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
73.733
114.883
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
792.44
2460.464
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
4.888
11.12
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
35.338
120.942
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
200.825
628.757
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)
GPU 1
GPU 2
7218
8729
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3691
7055
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3335
3353
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)
GPU 1
GPU 2
7218
8729
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3691
7055
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3335
3353
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score
GPU 1
GPU 2
2284
3927
Name NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 AMD Radeon R9 290X
PassMark - G3D Mark 6080 8623
PassMark - G2D Mark 673 766
Geekbench - OpenCL 18677 43456
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s) 73.733 114.883
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s) 792.44 2460.464
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s) 4.888 11.12
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s) 35.338 120.942
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s) 200.825 628.757
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames) 7218 8729
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames) 3691 7055
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames) 3335 3353
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps) 7218 8729
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps) 3691 7055
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps) 3335 3353
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score 2284 3927

Compare specifications (specs)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 AMD Radeon R9 290X

Essentials

Architecture Maxwell 2.0 GCN 2.0
Code name GM206 Hawaii
Launch date 22 January 2015 24 October 2013
Launch price (MSRP) $199 $549
Place in performance rating 503 301
Price now $229.99
Type Desktop Desktop
Value for money (0-100) 34.63
Design AMD Radeon R9 200 Series

Technical info

Boost clock speed 1178 MHz 947 MHz
Core clock speed 1127 MHz
CUDA cores 1024
Floating-point performance 2,413 gflops 5,632 gflops
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Pipelines 1024 2816
Texture fill rate 72 billion / sec 176.0 GTexel / s
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 120 Watt 250 Watt
Transistor count 2,940 million 6,200 million
Stream Processors 2560

Video outputs and ports

Audio input for HDMI Internal
Display Connectors Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2, 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
HDCP
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Multi monitor support
DisplayPort support
Dual-link DVI support
Eyefinity
HDMI
VGA

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Bus support PCI Express 3.0 PCIe 3.0
Height 4.376" (11.1 cm)
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Length 9.5" (24.1 cm) 275 mm
Recommended system power (PSU) 400 Watt
SLI options 2x
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pins 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin

API support

DirectX 12.0 (12_1) 12
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
Vulkan

Memory

Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 4 GB
Memory bandwidth 112 GB / s 320 GB/s
Memory bus width 128 Bit 512 Bit
Memory clock speed 7.0 GB/s 1250 MHz
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Shared memory 0 0

Technologies

CUDA
GameStream
GameWorks
GeForce ShadowPlay
GPU Boost
AMD Eyefinity
AppAcceleration
CrossFire
DDMA audio
FreeSync
HD3D
LiquidVR
TressFX
TrueAudio
Unified Video Decoder (UVD)