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GeForce GTX 970 vs Radeon R9 290X
Intro
The GeForce GTX 970 features a GPU core speed of 1050 MHz, and the 4096 MB of GDDR5 memory is set to run at 1750 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 1664 SPUs, 104 Texture Address Units, and 64 Raster Operation Units.Compare those specifications to the Radeon R9 290X, which makes use of a 28 nm design. AMD has set the core frequency at 800 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a speed of 1250 MHz on this model. It features 2816 SPUs as well as 176 TAUs and 64 ROPs.
Benchmarks
These are real-world performance benchmarks that were submitted by Hardware Compare users. The scores seen here are the average of all benchmarks submitted for each respective test and hardware.
3DMark Fire Strike Graphics Score
| GeForce GTX 970 |
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10867 points |
| Radeon R9 290X |
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10609 points |
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Zcash Mining Hash Rate
| Radeon R9 290X |
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369 Sol/s |
| GeForce GTX 970 |
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262 Sol/s |
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Ethereum Mining Hash Rate
| Radeon R9 290X |
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29 Mh/s |
| GeForce GTX 970 |
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19 Mh/s |
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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks
Power Consumption (Max TDP)
| GeForce GTX 970 |
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145 Watts |
| Radeon R9 290X |
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300 Watts |
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Memory Bandwidth
In theory, the Radeon R9 290X should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GTX 970 overall. (explain)
| Radeon R9 290X |
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320000 MB/sec |
| GeForce GTX 970 |
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224000 MB/sec |
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Texel Rate
The Radeon R9 290X should be a lot (approximately 29%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 970. (explain)| Radeon R9 290X |
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140800 Mtexels/sec |
| GeForce GTX 970 |
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109200 Mtexels/sec |
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Pixel Rate
If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 970 is superior to the Radeon R9 290X, and very much so. (explain)| GeForce GTX 970 |
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67200 Mpixels/sec |
| Radeon R9 290X |
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51200 Mpixels/sec |
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Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.
Price Comparison
GeForce GTX 970Amazon.com
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Radeon R9 290XAmazon.com
Check prices at:
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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.
Specifications
| Model | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon R9 290X |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | nVidia | AMD |
| Year | September 2014 | October 2013 |
| Code Name | GM204-200 | Hawaii XT |
| Memory | 4096 MB | 4096 MB |
| Core Speed | 1050 MHz | 800 MHz |
| Memory Speed | 7000 MHz | 5000 MHz |
| Power (Max TDP) | 145 watts | 300 watts |
| Bandwidth | 224000 MB/sec | 320000 MB/sec |
| Texel Rate | 109200 Mtexels/sec | 140800 Mtexels/sec |
| Pixel Rate | 67200 Mpixels/sec | 51200 Mpixels/sec |
| Unified Shaders | 1664 | 2816 |
| Texture Mapping Units | 104 | 176 |
| Render Output Units | 64 | 64 |
| Bus Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 256-bit | 512-bit |
| Fab Process | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Transistors | 5200 million | 6200 million |
| Bus | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| DirectX Version | DirectX 11.2 | DirectX 11.2 |
| OpenGL Version | OpenGL 4.5 | OpenGL 4.3 |
Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.
Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.
Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.
GeForce GTX 970Amazon.com
Check prices at:
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Radeon R9 290XAmazon.com
Check prices at:
|
Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.
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Comments
13 Responses to “GeForce GTX 970 vs Radeon R9 290X”is the r9 290x a better card than the 970
yes, the 290x performs better than a 780, quite a bit in some situations. the 970, with some overclocking can get 780 performance. even then the 780 is a beast of a card. if you are looking at buying either of the cards, i would go with the 290x if you arent planning on playing above 1080p or multi-monitor. if planning on playing at higher resolutions i would go with the 970 because ONLY THE NEW MAXWELL BASED GPUS are more efficient and faster at displaying more pixels. that would be the only reason to buy the 970 over the 290x
Wow dude you really know about this, but do you say GTX 970 will keep his performance? remember just released in september of this year. Anyways i'm going for the r9 290x as you say...
So buying the r9290x was a mistake right? The 970
No in new benchmarks show that the R9 290X takes off at 4K resolution versus the GTX 970 due to the issue with the 3.5GB vram. At 1080p the GTX 970 does great but if you push it hard with games that re heavy modded you will notice issues with it. The r9 290X will give you room to play at 4k. Base on my test using the EVGA GTX 970 SSC Edition and the MSI R9 290X Ligghtning Edition.
Only down side is that the 290X uses alot more power than the 970. Also the new drivers coming up should provide an additional 5% performance to all 290X cards. I think NVIDIA is not going to support the 970 for to long due to the issues with the 3.5GB Memory that is a physical issue not drivers related.
Good Luck!
IMO R9 290X is a better card. I will explain why. R9 290X can use all 4GB of its VRAM. While GTX 970 can only use 3.5GB and if you go above it starts stuttering. At 1080P GTX 970 might be 2% faster but @ 1440P - 4K R9 290X starts gaining on a GTX 970.
I have owned X2 R9 290X's in Crossfire for a year now. I can honestly say, it's a pretty solid card. This whole year two of my 290X's have been driving @ 1440P 60+ FPS in "most" games.
The problem with GTX 970 is: Nvidia itself admitted, both segments can't be used at the same time, so you cannot therefore add the two bandwidth numbers. When any game that uses large texture files (Skyrim mods, etc) will start to approach and exceed the prioritized 3.5GB threshold. As soon as the VRAM usage exceeds that 3.5GB, the remaining 512MB is 1/8th the speed of the [primary segment <---- 196 GB/s]
So with 512MB (28 GB/s) of very slow memory compared to the rest, that will definitely be a performance impact. If you are running near 4GB.
*Actual GTX 970 Specs*
ROPs - 56
L2 Cache - 1.75 MB
196 GB/s (3.5 GB) & 28 GB/s (512MB).
so im playing on a 1080p monitor which one should i go for a 970 or 290x?
In over clocking tests I have seen, the Strix 970 performs equally or better than the R9.
You can get boost speed up to 1450+ MHz and memory up to 7.8GHz.
It's also quieter and uses much less power, do you get good performance without needing a huge power supply and cooling.
4k monitors are still expensive, so if you didn't already have one I'd choose the ASUS Strix 970. It's big... But a nice looking card. Very easy to install.
I am planning on buying a gpu, MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V, but then I came across the 290x. If I am only going to be using a single 1080p monitor, what would be better?
Brendan is talking one sided rubbish. Yes you can OC a 970 but you can also OC a 290X so point is moot.
@Woop
The 970GTX is slightly worse in real world gaming than the 290X, especially in newer titles where the drivers aren't as tuned as AMD's. WIll you notice in game? Probably not. Both are great cards, i'd probably go whichever is cheapest for you and be happy.
Am i the only one realising r9 is %30 more expensive than the nvdia ? And i dont think it %30 price worths %1-2 performance i would definately choose nvidia over amd
LOL! Kaan, you are right!
i DEFINATELY will buy a EVGA 970 FTW+
Think i can join this debate,
I've used MSI GTX 970 ME(Limited Edition), and gotta say it's a pretty solid card.
But when i play AC: Syndicate with ULTRA SETTINGS in ALL SETTINGS.
It pushes the VRAM Above 4GB in 1080P.
It LAGS like crazy! so yes, the 3,5GB eventually WILL make your card becomes IRRELEVANT sooner as i would imagine (TBH, i know the issues about 3,5GB but coninues to ignoring it as i only play 1080p).
I Sold the card, which luckily i got 20$ Profit. and bought newly used Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X.
YES, i know it runs much hotter (10 C More), but performance wise and the specs are really future proofing, Couldn't be happier