GPUBoss Review Our evaluation of R9 290 vs R9 280X

Gaming

Real world tests using the latest 3D games

crysis: warhead (2013), Crysis: Warhead (2012), Batman: Arkham City and 6 more

Benchmarks

Synthetic tests to measure overall performance

3DMark 11 Graphics, 3DMark Vantage Graphics and 3DMark06

Compute Performance

General computing tests executed on the GPU

Civilization 5 Texture Decomposition (2013)

Noise and Power

How loud and hot does the card run idle and under load

TDP

No winner declared

Too close to call

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VS

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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Higher clock speed 947 MHz vs 850 MHz More than 10% higher clock speed
Significantly higher pixel rate 60.6 GPixel/s vs 27.2 GPixel/s Around 2.2x higher pixel rate
More memory 4,096 MB vs 3,072 MB Around 35% more memory
Better 3DMark 11 graphics score 14,570 vs 10,792 More than 35% better 3DMark 11 graphics score
Better floating-point performance 4,800 GFLOPS vs 3,482 GFLOPS Around 40% better floating-point performance
Better 3DMark06 score 32,300 vs 28,452 Around 15% better 3DMark06 score
Significantly more render output processors 64 vs 32 Twice as many render output processors
More shading units 2,560 vs 2,048 512 more shading units
Higher BioShock infinite framerate 91.5 fps vs 73.9 fps Around 25% higher BioShock infinite framerate
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 civilization 5 texture decomposition (2013) score 367 vs 339.1 Around 10% better civilization 5 texture decomposition (2013) 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
Higher turbo clock speed 1,000 MHz vs 947 MHz More than 5% higher turbo clock speed
Lower TDP 250W vs 300W More than 15% lower TDP

Benchmarks Real world tests of Radeon R9 290 vs 280X

3DMark 11 Graphics Industry standard benchmark that tests DirectX 11 GPU performance

3DMark Vantage Graphics Industry standard benchmark that tests DirectX 10 GPU performance

3DMark06 Industry standard benchmark that tests DirectX 9 GPU performance

BioShock Infinite 1920 x 1080 - Ultra preset + DX11 (DDOF)

Radeon R9 290
91.5 fps
Radeon R9 280X
73.9 fps
Radeon R9 290 Radeon R9 280X @ anandtech.com

Civilization 5 Texture Decomp (2013) Using the newest graphics cards Civ V can speed screen transitions by reducing texture sizes

Radeon R9 290 Radeon R9 280X @ anandtech.com

Reviews Word on the street

Radeon R9 290  vs 280X 

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

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