GPUBoss Review Our evaluation of R9 290X vs 780

Gaming

Real world tests using the latest 3D games
Radeon R9 290X
N/A
GeForce GTX 780
N/A
crysis: warhead (2013), Crysis: Warhead (2012), Batman: Arkham City and 6 more

Benchmarks

Synthetic tests to measure overall performance
Radeon R9 290X
8.7
GeForce GTX 780
9.1
Passmark, 3DMark 11 Graphics, 3DMark Vantage Graphics and 3DMark06

Compute Performance

General computing tests executed on the GPU
Radeon R9 290X
9.0
GeForce GTX 780
9.4
Civilization 5 Texture Decomposition (2013) and Passmark Direct Compute

Noise and Power

How loud and hot does the card run idle and under load
Radeon R9 290X
5.3
GeForce GTX 780
5.4
TDP

GPUBoss Score

Gaming, Benchmarks, Compute Performance and Noise and Power
Radeon R9 290X
8.5
GeForce GTX 780
8.9

Winner
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 

GPUBoss recommends the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780  based on its .

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VS

AMD Radeon R9 290X

Front view of Radeon R9 290X
Front view of GeForce GTX 780

Nvidia GeForce GTX 780

GPUBoss Winner
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Differences What are the advantages of each

Front view of Radeon R9 290X

Reasons to consider the
AMD Radeon R9 290X

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Significantly better 3DMark 11 graphics score 25,101.5 vs 14,020 Around 80% better 3DMark 11 graphics score
Higher clock speed 1,000 MHz vs 863 MHz More than 15% higher clock speed
Better floating-point performance 5,632 GFLOPS vs 3,977 GFLOPS More than 40% better floating-point performance
More memory 4,096 MB vs 3,072 MB Around 35% more memory
Higher pixel rate 64 GPixel/s vs 41.4 GPixel/s Around 55% higher pixel rate
Higher turbo clock speed 1,000 MHz vs 902 MHz More than 10% higher turbo clock speed
Slightly higher memory bandwidth 320 GB/s vs 288.4 GB/s More than 10% higher memory bandwidth
More render output processors 64 vs 48 16 more render output processors
More shading units 2,816 vs 2,304 512 more shading units
Wider memory bus 512 bit vs 384 bit Around 35% wider memory bus
Front view of GeForce GTX 780

Reasons to consider the
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780

Report a correction
Much better 3DMark06 score 35,080 vs 15,980.5 Around 2.2x better 3DMark06 score
Better passmark score 8,054 vs 6,813 Around 20% better passmark score
Higher effective memory clock speed 6,008 MHz vs 5,000 MHz More than 20% higher effective memory clock speed
Better 3DMark vantage graphics score 42,870 vs 38,367 More than 10% better 3DMark vantage graphics score
Higher memory clock speed 1,502 MHz vs 1,250 MHz More than 20% higher memory clock speed
Better passmark direct compute score 4,040 vs 3,156 Around 30% better passmark direct compute score
Lower TDP 250W vs 300W More than 15% lower TDP

Benchmarks Real world tests of Radeon R9 290X vs GeForce GTX 780

Passmark Industry standard benchmark for overall graphics card performance

Radeon R9 290X
6,813
GeForce GTX 780
8,054
videocardbenchmark.net

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

Radeon R9 290X
25,101.5
GeForce GTX 780
14,020
GeForce GTX 780 @ community.futuremark.com
Radeon R9 290X @ notebookcheck.net

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

Radeon R9 290X
38,367
GeForce GTX 780
42,870
GeForce GTX 780 @ community.futuremark.com
Radeon R9 290X @ notebookcheck.net

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

Radeon R9 290X
94.9 fps
GeForce GTX 780
95.3 fps
Radeon R9 290X GeForce GTX 780 @ anandtech.com

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

Radeon R9 290X
373.9
GeForce GTX 780
365.9
Radeon R9 290X GeForce GTX 780 @ anandtech.com

Passmark Direct Compute Measures performance of general-purpose computing using Microsoft DirectCompute

Radeon R9 290X
3,156
GeForce GTX 780
4,040
videocardbenchmark.net

Reviews Word on the street

Radeon R9 290X  vs GeForce GTX 780 
9.2
read review
9.3
read review
Overclocking works very well and reaches the highest clocks of all GTX 780 cards we tested so far.
GeForce GTX 780

Comments

Showing 25 comments.
edward hopkins (04:07 AM, July 20, 2014)
are you taking us for fools gpuboss? are you paid or something?!
Joy (02:18 PM, July 6, 2014)
u mean Asus AMD
derekecycle . (11:40 PM, July 5, 2014)
I have tried both reference cards at base frequencies. The R9 290X does run a but smoother that the GTX 780 is some areas such as benchmarks and highly demanding games. The main problem is that the R9 290X produces more heat and thus performance decreases. The GTX 780 on the other hand is much more stable throughout all games and benchmarks because NVIDIA's GK110 core is more energy efficient than AMD's Hawaii XT core. And in the end it all comes down to consistent performance. I mean who plays for just a half hour and calls it quits? Plus Catalyst forces Raptr, AMD Gaming Evolved or whatever it is to be installed where as NVIDIA GeForce Experience can be removed from the install list. To sum all this up, the higher cost of the GTX 780 equals consistent performance and lower heat generation.
THIS IS (04:24 PM, July 5, 2014)
BULL SHIT !
Nick (09:54 AM, July 2, 2014)
the reason why this nvidia card has more compute performace is because its literally overclocked from the factory and the amd card obviously dominated the 780 and the 780Ti and besides usually when the card is OC'd from factory they dont last as long GG nVidia but uh your always the loser lol
Guest (10:01 PM, July 1, 2014)
If thats not an option just make sure the computer is outside when it is raining..free liquid cooling.
Torin (06:08 PM, June 29, 2014)
I do have a 780 .. but I will move on to AMD side when it comes to GPU .. I think Mantle and Freesyn are the way to go.
Justin Shepherd (10:48 AM, June 29, 2014)
its 400$ on ebay
Blastergamer (05:14 AM, June 3, 2014)
what's the thing? He prefers GTX 780 from Nvidia and the Avatar picture is an Asus Nvidia card.
NVIDIA FANBOY (11:29 PM, June 1, 2014)
NVIDIA!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE NVIDIA!!!!!!
AMD FANBOY (11:25 PM, June 1, 2014)
AMD!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AMD!!!!!!
bakchh johnx (11:24 PM, June 1, 2014)
Why is your Avatar a picture of an nvidia card?
Thomas Dameron (01:14 AM, May 27, 2014)
where do you get +80% when they have very similar performance?
govi (12:00 PM, May 23, 2014)
I do want to point out how biased this comment is and how terrible this comparision is, you're comparing the lightning edition, which is a card designed for extreme overclocking, the most expensive 780, with a reference r9 290, if you were to do the same benchmark with say a 780 tri-x and a 290 tri-x it will be much different.
Justin Shepherd (12:46 AM, May 22, 2014)
my dual 780's FTW
Rod Anderson (12:53 AM, May 8, 2014)
Just go to Anandtech to see the truth. Use the dropdown menus to choose the video cards and then click "View Comparison". http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1036?vs=1068
rage (02:08 PM, May 2, 2014)
Hey, if you're getting your pockets stuffed with Nvidia money, at least take down the ads, would you please. This is like heaven for Nvidia fanboys, isn't it. Seriously, I love Nvidia but this sort of unfair treatment towards AMD cards (seriously, you gave the 770 a higher score than the 290?!) is ridiculous and disgusting. If Nvidia is the better company, they should prove that by actually making better products and not paying off popular websites to favor their GPUs. I wonder how you get your results, seriously, do you lock the AMD card in 2D mode at 300MHz? I could rant on forever about this but instead I'm just going to stay away from your website in the future and tell others to do the same. What a joke.
777 (08:02 PM, April 23, 2014)
LOL xD intel+nvidia fanboys - thiscpuboss
ThatHKDude (04:45 PM, April 18, 2014)
Although the 780 costs more than 290X, it runs games better and that it doesn't have a louder-than-a-hairblower stock cooler. More importantly, being an NVIDIA card means that it has better driver support and GeForce Experience suite which is a hell of a lot better than AMD's crappy Raptr or whatever it is called...
Tartarus (08:31 PM, March 30, 2014)
This is bs. I'm not a fanboy, or anything, but right should be right.
Redemz (04:11 PM, March 7, 2014)
nvidia cards in general performed much better in battlefield 3 than the amd cards did but things have changed dramatically with battlefield 4
Clint (02:07 AM, February 18, 2014)
Jack you're a fucking idiot. Don't ever come onto a thread talking about garbage ass BF4. The Witcher 2 still has the best looking visuals and it's piggy backing Nvidia. WTF you going to say when The Witcher 3 comes out and is more visualy enhanced than any game on the market?
Crop (06:48 PM, February 16, 2014)
780 Poseidon is very, very better!
JackHemming (06:50 PM, February 10, 2014)
oh my god u don't know anything about tech do u?Fanboy this site is not good for gpu..on bf4 it says AMD GAMING EVOVOLED AAHAHHAHAH NVIDIA SUX!
GTX rulez you noobs (11:14 PM, January 31, 2014)
Yes! I knew it! GTX 780 is at least 80% better than the crappy 290x. AMD losers haha!
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