Graphics card comparison
GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB vs Radeon R9 290
Nvidia
GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
3072 Mb GDDR5
Released 18 Aug 2016
DESKTOP
VS
AMD
Radeon R9 290
4096 Mb GDDR5
Released 5 Nov 2013
DESKTOP
Summary
Synthetic performance index
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB106%
- Radeon R9 290100%
Relative performance
Gaming performance index
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB100%
- Radeon R9 290106%
Relative performance
Reasons to consider the GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
- 155 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)
- Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
- Based on an outdated architecture (Nvidia Pascal), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications
Reasons to consider the Radeon R9 290
- 6% 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- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications
Our verdict
HWSpot recommends the Radeon R9 290
The Radeon R9 290 is the better performing card based on the game benchmark suite used (15 combinations of games and resolutions).
Specifications
Core configuration
| GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB | Radeon R9 290 |
|---|
| GPU Name | GP106 (GP106-300-A1) | Hawaii (Hawaii PRO) |
| Fab Process | 16 nm | 28 nm |
| Die Size | 200 mm² | 438 mm² |
| Transistors | 4,400 million | 6,200 million |
| Shaders | 1152 | 2560 |
| Compute Units | 9 | 40 |
| Core clock | 1506 MHz | 947 MHz |
| ROPs | 48 | 64 |
| TMUs | 72 | 160 |
Memory configuration
| GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB | Radeon R9 290 |
|---|
| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 192 bit | 512 bit |
| Memory Speed | 2002 MHz
8008 MHz effective | 1250 MHz
5000 MHz effective |
| Memory Size | 3072 Mb | 4096 Mb |
Additional details
| GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB | Radeon R9 290 |
|---|
| TDP | 120 watts | 275 watts |
| Release Date | 18 Aug 2016 | 5 Nov 2013 |
Raw performance comparison
Pixel Rate
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB72.30 GP/s
- Radeon R9 29060.60 GP/s
GigaPixels - higher is better
Texel Rate
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB108.40 GT/s
- Radeon R9 290152.00 GT/s
GigaTexels - higher is better
Memory bandwidth
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB192.20 GB/s
- Radeon R9 290320.00 GB/s
GB/s - higher is better
Single precision performance
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB3470.00 GFLOPs
- Radeon R9 2904849.00 GFLOPs
GFLOPs - higher is better
Synthetic benchmarks
3DMark 11
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB16380
- Radeon R9 29015440
Points (higher is better)
Game benchmarks
Doom (2016)
OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB103
- Radeon R9 29089
FPS (higher is better)
Far Cry Primal
DX11, Very High Settings
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB66
- Radeon R9 29067
FPS (higher is better)
Hitman (2016)
DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB52
- Radeon R9 29069
FPS (higher is better)
Rise Of The Tomb Raider
DX12, Very High Details, Pure Hair On, HBAO+
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB70
- Radeon R9 29057
FPS (higher is better)
Tom Clancy's The Division
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB58
- Radeon R9 29060
FPS (higher is better)
Doom (2016)
OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB65
- Radeon R9 29057
FPS (higher is better)
Far Cry Primal
DX11, Very High Settings
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB45
- Radeon R9 29048
FPS (higher is better)
Hitman (2016)
DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB37
- Radeon R9 29055
FPS (higher is better)
Rise Of The Tomb Raider
DX12, Very High Details, Pure Hair On, HBAO+
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB46
- Radeon R9 29040
FPS (higher is better)
Tom Clancy's The Division
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB41
- Radeon R9 29041
FPS (higher is better)
Doom (2016)
OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB33
- Radeon R9 29028
FPS (higher is better)
Far Cry Primal
DX11, Very High Settings
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB22
- Radeon R9 29026
FPS (higher is better)
Hitman (2016)
DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB22
- Radeon R9 29028
FPS (higher is better)
Rise Of The Tomb Raider
DX12, Very High Details, Pure Hair On, HBAO+
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB17
- Radeon R9 29022
FPS (higher is better)
Tom Clancy's The Division
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB23
- Radeon R9 29024
FPS (higher is better)