GeForce GTX 970 vs Radeon R9 290

GeForce GTX 970
Memory: 4096Mb GDDR5DESKTOP
Release date: 19 Sep 2014
GeForce GTX 970
Radeon R9 290
Memory: 4096Mb GDDR5DESKTOP
Release date: 5 Nov 2013
Radeon R9 290

Summary

Synthetic performance index

  • GeForce GTX 970
    102%
  • Radeon R9 290
    100%

Relative performance

Gaming performance index

  • GeForce GTX 970
    101%
  • Radeon R9 290
    100%

Relative performance

Reasons to consider GeForce GTX 970

127 watts lower power draw. This might be a strong point if your current power supply is not enough to handle the Radeon R9 290 .
This is a much newer product, it might have better long term support.
Supports PhysX
Supports G-Sync
Supports ShadowPlay (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
Based on an outdated architecture (Nvidia Maxwell), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications

Reasons to consider Radeon R9 290

Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
Supports FreeSync
Supports ReLive (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
Supports TrueAudio
Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications

No clear winner declared

These graphics cards seems to have comparable performance based on the game benchmark suite used (49 combinations of games and resolutions).


Specifications

Core Configuration

GeForce GTX 970Radeon R9 290
GPU NameGM204 (GM204-200-A1)vsHawaii (Hawaii PRO)
Fab Process28 nmvs28 nm
Die Size398 mm²vs438 mm²
Transistors5,200 millionvs6,200 million
Shaders1664vs2560
Compute Units13vs40
Core clock1050 MHzvs947 MHz
ROPs56vs64
TMUs104vs160

Memory Configuration

GeForce GTX 970Radeon R9 290
Memory TypeGDDR5vsGDDR5
Bus Width256 bitvs512 bit
Memory Speed1753 MHz
7012 MHz effective
vs1250 MHz
5000 MHz effective
Memory Size4096 Mbvs4096 Mb

Additional details

GeForce GTX 970Radeon R9 290
TDP148 wattsvs275 watts
Release Date19 Sep 2014vs5 Nov 2013

Raw Performance comparison

Pixel Rate

  • GeForce GTX 970
    58.80 GP/s
  • Radeon R9 290
    60.60 GP/s

GigaPixels - higher is better

Texel Rate

  • GeForce GTX 970
    109.20 GT/s
  • Radeon R9 290
    152.00 GT/s

GigaTexels - higher is better

Memory bandwidth

  • GeForce GTX 970
    224.40 GB/s
  • Radeon R9 290
    320.00 GB/s

GB/s - higher is better

Single precision performance

  • GeForce GTX 970
    3494.00 GFLOPs
  • Radeon R9 290
    4849.00 GFLOPs

GFLOPs - higher is better

Synthetic benchmarks

3DMark 11

  • GeForce GTX 970
    15750
  • Radeon R9 290
    15440

Points (higher is better)

Game benchmarks

Anno 2205

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    64
  • Radeon R9 290
    53

FPS (higher is better)

Assassin's Creed: Unity

  • GeForce GTX 970
    32.1
  • Radeon R9 290
    33.3

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    114.7
  • Radeon R9 290
    109.5

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 4

  • GeForce GTX 970
    79.6
  • Radeon R9 290
    69.1

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield Hardline

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xMSAA,EP3 Gator Bait

  • GeForce GTX 970
    55
  • Radeon R9 290
    59

FPS (higher is better)

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

  • GeForce GTX 970
    112.5
  • Radeon R9 290
    113

FPS (higher is better)

Civilization: Beyond Earth

  • GeForce GTX 970
    101
  • Radeon R9 290
    95.1

FPS (higher is better)

Crysis 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    42.3
  • Radeon R9 290
    42.9

FPS (higher is better)

Doom (2016)

OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx

  • GeForce GTX 970
    91
  • Radeon R9 290
    89

FPS (higher is better)

Fallout 4

DX11, Ultra Details, Godrays, High shadows

  • GeForce GTX 970
    88
  • Radeon R9 290
    66

FPS (higher is better)

Far Cry Primal

DX11, Very High Settings

  • GeForce GTX 970
    62
  • Radeon R9 290
    67

FPS (higher is better)

Grand Theft Auto V

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    79
  • Radeon R9 290
    83

FPS (higher is better)

Hitman (2016)

DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    53
  • Radeon R9 290
    69

FPS (higher is better)

Rise Of The Tomb Raider

DX12, Very High Details, Pure Hair On, HBAO+

  • GeForce GTX 970
    63
  • Radeon R9 290
    57

FPS (higher is better)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

DX11,Max Details, 16:1 HQ-AF, +AA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    53
  • Radeon R9 290
    45

FPS (higher is better)

Tom Clancy's The Division

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    57
  • Radeon R9 290
    60

FPS (higher is better)

Anno 2205

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    41
  • Radeon R9 290
    38

FPS (higher is better)

Assassin's Creed: Unity

  • GeForce GTX 970
    20.6
  • Radeon R9 290
    20.9

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    70.2
  • Radeon R9 290
    71.7

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 4

  • GeForce GTX 970
    50.5
  • Radeon R9 290
    46.2

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield Hardline

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xMSAA,EP3 Gator Bait

  • GeForce GTX 970
    40
  • Radeon R9 290
    43

FPS (higher is better)

Bioshock Infinite

DX11, Ultra, DDOD, FXAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    73
  • Radeon R9 290
    58

FPS (higher is better)

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

  • GeForce GTX 970
    83.5
  • Radeon R9 290
    84.5

FPS (higher is better)

Civilization: Beyond Earth

  • GeForce GTX 970
    69.4
  • Radeon R9 290
    67.8

FPS (higher is better)

Crysis 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    25.7
  • Radeon R9 290
    27.8

FPS (higher is better)

Doom (2016)

OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx

  • GeForce GTX 970
    58
  • Radeon R9 290
    57

FPS (higher is better)

Fallout 4

DX11, Ultra Details, Godrays, High shadows

  • GeForce GTX 970
    54
  • Radeon R9 290
    43

FPS (higher is better)

Far Cry Primal

DX11, Very High Settings

  • GeForce GTX 970
    43
  • Radeon R9 290
    48

FPS (higher is better)

Grand Theft Auto V

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    55
  • Radeon R9 290
    53

FPS (higher is better)

Hitman (2016)

DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    37
  • Radeon R9 290
    55

FPS (higher is better)

Hitman Absolution

DX11, High Quality, 2x MSAA, 16x AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    54
  • Radeon R9 290
    61

FPS (higher is better)

Rise Of The Tomb Raider

DX12, Very High Details, Pure Hair On, HBAO+

  • GeForce GTX 970
    42
  • Radeon R9 290
    40

FPS (higher is better)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

DX11,Max Details, 16:1 HQ-AF, +AA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    42
  • Radeon R9 290
    35

FPS (higher is better)

Tom Clancy's The Division

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    40
  • Radeon R9 290
    41

FPS (higher is better)

Anno 2205

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    25
  • Radeon R9 290
    23

FPS (higher is better)

Assassin's Creed: Unity

  • GeForce GTX 970
    20.9
  • Radeon R9 290
    17.7

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    33.8
  • Radeon R9 290
    35.2

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 4

  • GeForce GTX 970
    24.7
  • Radeon R9 290
    24

FPS (higher is better)

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

  • GeForce GTX 970
    49.3
  • Radeon R9 290
    49.3

FPS (higher is better)

Civilization: Beyond Earth

  • GeForce GTX 970
    41.6
  • Radeon R9 290
    41.3

FPS (higher is better)

Crysis 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    17.7
  • Radeon R9 290
    19.3

FPS (higher is better)

Doom (2016)

OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx

  • GeForce GTX 970
    29
  • Radeon R9 290
    28

FPS (higher is better)

Fallout 4

DX11, Ultra Details, Godrays, High shadows

  • GeForce GTX 970
    26
  • Radeon R9 290
    19

FPS (higher is better)

Far Cry Primal

DX11, Very High Settings

  • GeForce GTX 970
    23
  • Radeon R9 290
    26

FPS (higher is better)

Grand Theft Auto V

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    27
  • Radeon R9 290
    27

FPS (higher is better)

Hitman (2016)

DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    19
  • Radeon R9 290
    28

FPS (higher is better)

Rise Of The Tomb Raider

DX12, Very High Details, Pure Hair On, HBAO+

  • GeForce GTX 970
    19
  • Radeon R9 290
    22

FPS (higher is better)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

DX11,Max Details, 16:1 HQ-AF, +AA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    25
  • Radeon R9 290
    21

FPS (higher is better)

Tom Clancy's The Division

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    18
  • Radeon R9 290
    24

FPS (higher is better)