GPUBoss Review Our evaluation of R9 290 vs R9 280X among Desktop GPUs

Gaming

Radeon R9 290
7.3
Radeon R9 280X
6.0
GeForce GTX 770
7.4
Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, Bioshock Infinite and 21 more

Graphics

Radeon R9 290
6.5
Radeon R9 280X
6.4
GeForce GTX 770
6.3
T-Rex, Manhattan, Cloud Gate Factor, Sky Diver Factor and 1 more

Computing

Radeon R9 290
8.0
Radeon R9 280X
7.5
GeForce GTX 770
6.3
Face Detection, Ocean Surface Simulation and 3 more

Performance per Watt

Radeon R9 290
6.8
Radeon R9 280X
6.7
GeForce GTX 770
6.9
Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, Bioshock Infinite and 32 more

Value

Radeon R9 290
5.2
Radeon R9 280X
n.d.
GeForce GTX 770
n.d.
Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, Bioshock Infinite and 32 more

Noise and Power

Radeon R9 290
5.3
Radeon R9 280X
7.9
GeForce GTX 770
8.7
TDP, Idle Power Consumption, Load Power Consumption and 2 more

No winner declared

Too close to call

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AMD Radeon R9 290

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 Front view of Radeon R9 290
Front view of Radeon R9 280X

Generic Radeon R9 280X

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Differences What are the advantages of each

Front view of Radeon R9 290

Reasons to consider the
AMD Radeon R9 290

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Much better 3DMark vantage graphics score 38,650 vs 11,255 Around 3.5x better 3DMark vantage graphics score
Better 3DMark06 score 32,300 vs 28,452 Around 15% better 3DMark06 score
Better PassMark score 7,049 vs 5,809 More than 20% better PassMark score
Better 3DMark 11 graphics score 14,570 vs 10,792 More than 35% better 3DMark 11 graphics score
Higher pixel rate 60.6 GPixel/s vs 32 GPixel/s Around 90% higher pixel rate
Higher clock speed 947 MHz vs 850 MHz More than 10% higher clock speed
Significantly more render output processors 64 vs 32 Twice as many render output processors
Higher memory bandwidth 320 GB/s vs 288 GB/s More than 10% higher memory bandwidth
More memory 4,096 MB vs 3,072 MB Around 35% more memory
Better floating-point performance 4,800 GFLOPS vs 4,096 GFLOPS More than 15% better floating-point performance
Higher texture rate 152 GTexel/s vs 128 GTexel/s Around 20% higher texture rate
Significantly higher crysis 3 framerate 51 vs 25.8 Around 2x higher crysis 3 framerate
More shading units 2,560 vs 2,048 512 more shading units
More texture mapping units 160 vs 128 32 more texture mapping units
Wider memory bus 512 bit vs 384 bit Around 35% wider memory bus
More compute units 40 vs 32 8 more compute units
Better fire strike factor score 71.97 vs 62.73 Around 15% better fire strike factor score
Higher BioShock infinite framerate 91.5 fps vs 73.9 fps Around 25% higher BioShock infinite framerate
Slightly better bitcoin mining score 540.64 mHash/s vs 493.57 mHash/s Around 10% better bitcoin mining score
Front view of Radeon R9 280X

Reasons to consider the
Generic Radeon R9 280X

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Higher effective memory clock speed 6,000 MHz vs 5,000 MHz 20% higher effective memory clock speed
Significantly higher memory clock speed 1,500 MHz vs 1,125 MHz Around 35% higher memory clock speed
Better PassMark direct compute score 3,677 vs 3,242 Around 15% better PassMark direct compute score
Lower TDP 250W vs 300W More than 15% lower TDP

Benchmarks Real world tests of Radeon R9 290 vs 280X

Bitcoin mining Data courtesy CompuBench

Radeon R9 290
540.64 mHash/s
Radeon R9 280X
493.57 mHash/s

Face detection Data courtesy CompuBench

Radeon R9 290
89.33 mPixels/s
Radeon R9 280X
89.19 mPixels/s

Ocean surface simulation Data courtesy CompuBench

Radeon R9 290
2,474.12 frames/s
Radeon R9 280X
1,924.31 frames/s

T-Rex (GFXBench 3.0) Data courtesy CompuBench

Radeon R9 290
3,355.58
Radeon R9 280X
3,356.04

Manhattan (GFXBench 3.0) Data courtesy CompuBench

Radeon R9 290
3,713.44
Radeon R9 280X
3,709.16

Fire Strike Factor Data courtesy FutureMark

Radeon R9 290
71.97
Radeon R9 280X
62.73

Sky Diver Factor Data courtesy FutureMark

Radeon R9 290
410.95
Radeon R9 280X
380.99

Crysis 3

Radeon R9 290
51
Radeon R9 280X
25.8

Reviews Word on the street

Radeon R9 290  vs 280X 
9.4
read review
8.5
read review
It yields additional performance to beat the GTX 780 by increasing maximum fan speed from 40% to 47.
Radeon R9 290

Comments

Showing 2 comments.
Adamantium (12:30 PM, March 24, 2015)
it's best to get the r9 290 simply because it's better for 4k gaming which means it will provide you at least an extra year of high-ultra graphics on most games if you're planning on sticking to 1080p the r9 280x is better since it's cheaper and itll give you the maximum amount of fps on most computers for 1440p and above its best if you go for the r9 290
Wewum (01:41 AM, March 12, 2015)
Is the difference worth the price? What should I get? the 280x or the 290?
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