GeForce GTX 970 vs Radeon R9 290X

GeForce GTX 970
Memory: 4096Mb GDDR5DESKTOP
Release date: 19 Sep 2014
GeForce GTX 970
Radeon R9 290X
Memory: 4096Mb GDDR5DESKTOP
Release date: 24 Oct 2013
Radeon R9 290X

Summary

Synthetic performance index

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

Relative performance

Gaming performance index

  • GeForce GTX 970
    100%
  • Radeon R9 290X
    109%

Relative performance

Reasons to consider GeForce GTX 970

142 watts lower power draw. This might be a strong point if your current power supply is not enough to handle the Radeon R9 290X .
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Based on an outdated architecture (Nvidia Maxwell), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications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 290X

9% higher gaming performance.
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Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications

Radeon R9 290X

HWBench recommends Radeon R9 290X

The Radeon R9 290X is the better performing card based on the game benchmark suite used (71 combinations of games and resolutions).


Specifications

Core Configuration

GeForce GTX 970Radeon R9 290X
GPU NameGM204 (GM204-200-A1)vsHawaii (Hawaii XT)
Fab Process28 nmvs28 nm
Die Size398 mm²vs438 mm²
Transistors5,200 millionvs6,200 million
Shaders1664vs2816
Compute Units13vs44
Core clock1050 MHzvs1000 MHz
ROPs56vs64
TMUs104vs176

Memory Configuration

GeForce GTX 970Radeon R9 290X
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 290X
TDP148 wattsvs290 watts
Release Date19 Sep 2014vs24 Oct 2013

Raw Performance comparison

Pixel Rate

  • GeForce GTX 970
    58.80 GP/s
  • Radeon R9 290X
    64.00 GP/s

GigaPixels - higher is better

Texel Rate

  • GeForce GTX 970
    109.20 GT/s
  • Radeon R9 290X
    176.00 GT/s

GigaTexels - higher is better

Memory bandwidth

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

GB/s - higher is better

Single precision performance

  • GeForce GTX 970
    3494.00 GFLOPs
  • Radeon R9 290X
    5632.00 GFLOPs

GFLOPs - higher is better

Synthetic benchmarks

3DMark 11

  • GeForce GTX 970
    15750
  • Radeon R9 290X
    16210

Points (higher is better)

Game benchmarks

Anno 2205

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    64
  • Radeon R9 290X
    57

FPS (higher is better)

Assassin's Creed: Unity

  • GeForce GTX 970
    32.1
  • Radeon R9 290X
    35.5

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    114.7
  • Radeon R9 290X
    120.6

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 4

  • GeForce GTX 970
    79.6
  • Radeon R9 290X
    74.3

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield Hardline

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xMSAA,EP3 Gator Bait

  • GeForce GTX 970
    55
  • Radeon R9 290X
    66

FPS (higher is better)

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

  • GeForce GTX 970
    112.5
  • Radeon R9 290X
    113.3

FPS (higher is better)

Civilization: Beyond Earth

  • GeForce GTX 970
    101
  • Radeon R9 290X
    105.7

FPS (higher is better)

Crysis 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    42.3
  • Radeon R9 290X
    46.2

FPS (higher is better)

Doom (2016)

OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx

  • GeForce GTX 970
    91
  • Radeon R9 290X
    100

FPS (higher is better)

Fallout 4

DX11, Ultra Details, Godrays, High shadows

  • GeForce GTX 970
    88
  • Radeon R9 290X
    73

FPS (higher is better)

Far Cry 4

  • GeForce GTX 970
    68.6
  • Radeon R9 290X
    71.7

FPS (higher is better)

Far Cry Primal

DX11, Very High Settings

  • GeForce GTX 970
    62
  • Radeon R9 290X
    68

FPS (higher is better)

Grand Theft Auto V

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

  • GeForce GTX 970
    79
  • Radeon R9 290X
    83

FPS (higher is better)

Hitman (2016)

DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    53
  • Radeon R9 290X
    75

FPS (higher is better)

Mad Max

  • GeForce GTX 970
    102.4
  • Radeon R9 290X
    107.2

FPS (higher is better)

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

  • GeForce GTX 970
    96
  • Radeon R9 290X
    81.7

FPS (higher is better)

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

  • GeForce GTX 970
    85
  • Radeon R9 290X
    99.8

FPS (higher is better)

Rise Of The Tomb Raider

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

  • GeForce GTX 970
    63
  • Radeon R9 290X
    60

FPS (higher is better)

Ryse

  • GeForce GTX 970
    76.4
  • Radeon R9 290X
    88.7

FPS (higher is better)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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

  • GeForce GTX 970
    53
  • Radeon R9 290X
    49

FPS (higher is better)

Thief 2014

DX11, Very High Details

  • GeForce GTX 970
    61
  • Radeon R9 290X
    64

FPS (higher is better)

Tom Clancy's The Division

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    57
  • Radeon R9 290X
    61

FPS (higher is better)

Watch Dogs

  • GeForce GTX 970
    78.7
  • Radeon R9 290X
    74.7

FPS (higher is better)

Anno 2205

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    41
  • Radeon R9 290X
    41

FPS (higher is better)

Assassin's Creed: Unity

  • GeForce GTX 970
    20.6
  • Radeon R9 290X
    22.9

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    70.2
  • Radeon R9 290X
    77.5

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 4

  • GeForce GTX 970
    50.5
  • Radeon R9 290X
    49.8

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield Hardline

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xMSAA,EP3 Gator Bait

  • GeForce GTX 970
    40
  • Radeon R9 290X
    48

FPS (higher is better)

Bioshock Infinite

DX11, Ultra, DDOD, FXAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    73
  • Radeon R9 290X
    62

FPS (higher is better)

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

  • GeForce GTX 970
    83.5
  • Radeon R9 290X
    89.7

FPS (higher is better)

Civilization: Beyond Earth

  • GeForce GTX 970
    69.4
  • Radeon R9 290X
    76.5

FPS (higher is better)

Crysis 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    25.7
  • Radeon R9 290X
    29.9

FPS (higher is better)

Doom (2016)

OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx

  • GeForce GTX 970
    58
  • Radeon R9 290X
    63

FPS (higher is better)

Fallout 4

DX11, Ultra Details, Godrays, High shadows

  • GeForce GTX 970
    54
  • Radeon R9 290X
    47

FPS (higher is better)

Far Cry 4

  • GeForce GTX 970
    46.3
  • Radeon R9 290X
    51.6

FPS (higher is better)

Far Cry Primal

DX11, Very High Settings

  • GeForce GTX 970
    43
  • Radeon R9 290X
    50

FPS (higher is better)

Grand Theft Auto V

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

  • GeForce GTX 970
    55
  • Radeon R9 290X
    58

FPS (higher is better)

Hitman (2016)

DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    37
  • Radeon R9 290X
    59

FPS (higher is better)

Hitman Absolution

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

  • GeForce GTX 970
    54
  • Radeon R9 290X
    67

FPS (higher is better)

Mad Max

  • GeForce GTX 970
    65.7
  • Radeon R9 290X
    72.2

FPS (higher is better)

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

  • GeForce GTX 970
    60.4
  • Radeon R9 290X
    49.9

FPS (higher is better)

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

  • GeForce GTX 970
    58.6
  • Radeon R9 290X
    71.2

FPS (higher is better)

Rise Of The Tomb Raider

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

  • GeForce GTX 970
    42
  • Radeon R9 290X
    43

FPS (higher is better)

Ryse

  • GeForce GTX 970
    55.2
  • Radeon R9 290X
    66.6

FPS (higher is better)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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

  • GeForce GTX 970
    42
  • Radeon R9 290X
    39

FPS (higher is better)

Thief 2014

DX11, Very High Details

  • GeForce GTX 970
    44
  • Radeon R9 290X
    49

FPS (higher is better)

Tom Clancy's The Division

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    40
  • Radeon R9 290X
    44

FPS (higher is better)

Watch Dogs

  • GeForce GTX 970
    54.5
  • Radeon R9 290X
    54.2

FPS (higher is better)

Anno 2205

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xAA

  • GeForce GTX 970
    25
  • Radeon R9 290X
    25

FPS (higher is better)

Assassin's Creed: Unity

  • GeForce GTX 970
    20.9
  • Radeon R9 290X
    20.2

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    33.8
  • Radeon R9 290X
    38.5

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield 4

  • GeForce GTX 970
    24.7
  • Radeon R9 290X
    25.6

FPS (higher is better)

Battlefield Hardline

DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xMSAA,EP3 Gator Bait

  • GeForce GTX 970
    21
  • Radeon R9 290X
    26

FPS (higher is better)

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

  • GeForce GTX 970
    49.3
  • Radeon R9 290X
    56.4

FPS (higher is better)

Civilization: Beyond Earth

  • GeForce GTX 970
    41.6
  • Radeon R9 290X
    48.8

FPS (higher is better)

Crysis 3

  • GeForce GTX 970
    17.7
  • Radeon R9 290X
    20.7

FPS (higher is better)

Doom (2016)

OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx

  • GeForce GTX 970
    29
  • Radeon R9 290X
    32

FPS (higher is better)

Fallout 4

DX11, Ultra Details, Godrays, High shadows

  • GeForce GTX 970
    26
  • Radeon R9 290X
    22

FPS (higher is better)

Far Cry 4

  • GeForce GTX 970
    23.8
  • Radeon R9 290X
    28.3

FPS (higher is better)

Far Cry Primal

DX11, Very High Settings

  • GeForce GTX 970
    23
  • Radeon R9 290X
    28

FPS (higher is better)

Grand Theft Auto V

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

  • GeForce GTX 970
    27
  • Radeon R9 290X
    31

FPS (higher is better)

Hitman (2016)

DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    19
  • Radeon R9 290X
    31

FPS (higher is better)

Mad Max

  • GeForce GTX 970
    32.6
  • Radeon R9 290X
    36.9

FPS (higher is better)

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

  • GeForce GTX 970
    27.7
  • Radeon R9 290X
    25.1

FPS (higher is better)

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

  • GeForce GTX 970
    32.8
  • Radeon R9 290X
    39.9

FPS (higher is better)

Rise Of The Tomb Raider

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

  • GeForce GTX 970
    19
  • Radeon R9 290X
    24

FPS (higher is better)

Ryse

  • GeForce GTX 970
    27
  • Radeon R9 290X
    33.5

FPS (higher is better)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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

  • GeForce GTX 970
    25
  • Radeon R9 290X
    24

FPS (higher is better)

Thief 2014

DX11, Very High Details

  • GeForce GTX 970
    24
  • Radeon R9 290X
    26

FPS (higher is better)

Tom Clancy's The Division

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF

  • GeForce GTX 970
    18
  • Radeon R9 290X
    25

FPS (higher is better)

Watch Dogs

  • GeForce GTX 970
    28.6
  • Radeon R9 290X
    30.1

FPS (higher is better)