NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 vs AMD Radeon R9 290

Comparative analysis of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 and AMD Radeon R9 290 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 970

  • Videocard is newer: launch date 10 month(s) later
  • Around 11% higher core clock speed: 1050 MHz vs 947 MHz
  • Around 86% lower typical power consumption: 148 Watt vs 275 Watt
  • Around 16% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 9637 vs 8291
  • Around 18% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s): 105.107 vs 89.325
  • Around 83% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames): 11499 vs 6300
  • Around 83% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps): 11499 vs 6300
Specifications (specs)
Launch date 19 September 2014 vs 5 November 2013
Core clock speed 1050 MHz vs 947 MHz
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 148 Watt vs 275 Watt
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark 9637 vs 8291
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s) 105.107 vs 89.325
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames) 11499 vs 6300
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps) 11499 vs 6300

Reasons to consider the AMD Radeon R9 290

  • Around 39% higher texture fill rate: 151.5 GTexel / s vs 109 billion / sec
  • Around 54% higher pipelines: 2560 vs 1664
  • Around 24% better floating-point performance: 4,849 gflops vs 3,920 gflops
  • 714.3x more memory clock speed: 5000 MHz vs 7.0 GB/s
  • Around 1% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 774 vs 769
  • 3.6x better performance in Geekbench - OpenCL: 102277 vs 28457
  • Around 11% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s): 1366.314 vs 1225.96
  • Around 15% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s): 10.034 vs 8.76
  • 2.8x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s): 98.765 vs 35.714
  • Around 10% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s): 540.645 vs 489.884
  • Around 2% better performance in 3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score: 3683 vs 3626
Specifications (specs)
Texture fill rate 151.5 GTexel / s vs 109 billion / sec
Pipelines 2560 vs 1664
Floating-point performance 4,849 gflops vs 3,920 gflops
Memory clock speed 5000 MHz vs 7.0 GB/s
Benchmarks
PassMark - G2D Mark 774 vs 769
Geekbench - OpenCL 102277 vs 28457
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s) 1366.314 vs 1225.96
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s) 10.034 vs 8.76
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s) 98.765 vs 35.714
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s) 540.645 vs 489.884
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames) 3711 vs 3698
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames) 3354 vs 3340
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps) 3711 vs 3698
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps) 3354 vs 3340
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score 3683 vs 3626

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GPU 2: AMD Radeon R9 290

PassMark - G3D Mark
GPU 1
GPU 2
9637
8291
PassMark - G2D Mark
GPU 1
GPU 2
769
774
Geekbench - OpenCL
GPU 1
GPU 2
28457
102277
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
105.107
89.325
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
1225.96
1366.314
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
8.76
10.034
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
35.714
98.765
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
489.884
540.645
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)
GPU 1
GPU 2
11499
6300
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3698
3711
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3340
3354
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)
GPU 1
GPU 2
11499
6300
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3698
3711
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3340
3354
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score
GPU 1
GPU 2
3626
3683
Name NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 AMD Radeon R9 290
PassMark - G3D Mark 9637 8291
PassMark - G2D Mark 769 774
Geekbench - OpenCL 28457 102277
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s) 105.107 89.325
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s) 1225.96 1366.314
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s) 8.76 10.034
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s) 35.714 98.765
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s) 489.884 540.645
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames) 11499 6300
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames) 3698 3711
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames) 3340 3354
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps) 11499 6300
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps) 3698 3711
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps) 3340 3354
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score 3626 3683

Compare specifications (specs)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 AMD Radeon R9 290

Essentials

Architecture Maxwell 2.0 GCN 2.0
Code name GM204 Hawaii
Launch date 19 September 2014 5 November 2013
Launch price (MSRP) $329 $399
Place in performance rating 365 360
Price now $407.76
Type Desktop Desktop
Value for money (0-100) 28.59
Design AMD Radeon R9 200 Series

Technical info

Boost clock speed 1178 MHz
Core clock speed 1050 MHz 947 MHz
CUDA cores 1664
Floating-point performance 3,920 gflops 4,849 gflops
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Maximum GPU temperature 98 °C
Pipelines 1664 2560
Texture fill rate 109 billion / sec 151.5 GTexel / s
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 148 Watt 275 Watt
Transistor count 5,200 million 6,200 million

Video outputs and ports

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

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Bus support PCI Express 3.0
Height 4.376" (11.1 cm)
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Length 10.5" (26.7 cm) 275 mm
Recommended system power (PSU) 500 Watt
SLI options 4x
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pins 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin

API support

DirectX 12.0 (12_1) 12
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
Vulkan

Memory

Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 4 GB
Memory bandwidth 224 GB / s 320.0 GB / s
Memory bus width 256 Bit 512 Bit
Memory clock speed 7.0 GB/s 5000 MHz
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Shared memory 0

Technologies

3D Vision
Adaptive Vertical Sync
CUDA
GameStream
GameWorks
GeForce Experience
GeForce ShadowPlay
GPU Boost
SLI
Surround
HD3D
LiquidVR
TressFX
TrueAudio
Unified Video Decoder (UVD)