Graphics card comparison
GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB vs Radeon R9 290X
Nvidia
GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
3072 Mb GDDR5
Released 18 Aug 2016
DESKTOP
VS
AMD
Radeon R9 290X
4096 Mb GDDR5
Released 24 Oct 2013
DESKTOP
Summary
Synthetic performance index
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB101%
- Radeon R9 290X100%
Relative performance
Gaming performance index
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB100%
- Radeon R9 290X111%
Relative performance
Reasons to consider the GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
- 170 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)
- 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- Based on an outdated architecture (Nvidia Pascal), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications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 290X
- 11% 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- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications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 290X
The Radeon R9 290X is the better performing card based on the game benchmark suite used (18 combinations of games and resolutions).
Specifications
Core configuration
| GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB | Radeon R9 290X |
|---|
| GPU Name | GP106 (GP106-300-A1) | Hawaii (Hawaii XT) |
| Fab Process | 16 nm | 28 nm |
| Die Size | 200 mm² | 438 mm² |
| Transistors | 4,400 million | 6,200 million |
| Shaders | 1152 | 2816 |
| Compute Units | 9 | 44 |
| Core clock | 1506 MHz | 1000 MHz |
| ROPs | 48 | 64 |
| TMUs | 72 | 176 |
Memory configuration
| GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB | Radeon R9 290X |
|---|
| 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 290X |
|---|
| TDP | 120 watts | 290 watts |
| Release Date | 18 Aug 2016 | 24 Oct 2013 |
Raw performance comparison
Pixel Rate
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB72.30 GP/s
- Radeon R9 290X64.00 GP/s
GigaPixels - higher is better
Texel Rate
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB108.40 GT/s
- Radeon R9 290X176.00 GT/s
GigaTexels - higher is better
Memory bandwidth
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB192.20 GB/s
- Radeon R9 290X320.00 GB/s
GB/s - higher is better
Single precision performance
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB3470.00 GFLOPs
- Radeon R9 290X5632.00 GFLOPs
GFLOPs - higher is better
Synthetic benchmarks
3DMark 11
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB16380
- Radeon R9 290X16210
Points (higher is better)
Game benchmarks
Doom (2016)
OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB103
- Radeon R9 290X100
FPS (higher is better)
Far Cry Primal
DX11, Very High Settings
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB66
- Radeon R9 290X68
FPS (higher is better)
Hitman (2016)
DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB52
- Radeon R9 290X75
FPS (higher is better)
Rise Of The Tomb Raider
DX12, Very High Details, Pure Hair On, HBAO+
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB70
- Radeon R9 290X60
FPS (higher is better)
Thief 2014
DX11, Very High Details
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB82
- Radeon R9 290X64
FPS (higher is better)
Tom Clancy's The Division
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB58
- Radeon R9 290X61
FPS (higher is better)
Doom (2016)
OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB65
- Radeon R9 290X63
FPS (higher is better)
Far Cry Primal
DX11, Very High Settings
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB45
- Radeon R9 290X50
FPS (higher is better)
Hitman (2016)
DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB37
- Radeon R9 290X59
FPS (higher is better)
Rise Of The Tomb Raider
DX12, Very High Details, Pure Hair On, HBAO+
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB46
- Radeon R9 290X43
FPS (higher is better)
Thief 2014
DX11, Very High Details
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB49
- Radeon R9 290X49
FPS (higher is better)
Tom Clancy's The Division
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB41
- Radeon R9 290X44
FPS (higher is better)
Doom (2016)
OpenGL, Ultra Quality, SMAA 1tx
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB33
- Radeon R9 290X32
FPS (higher is better)
Far Cry Primal
DX11, Very High Settings
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB22
- Radeon R9 290X28
FPS (higher is better)
Hitman (2016)
DX12, Ultra Quality, MSAA, 16x AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB22
- Radeon R9 290X31
FPS (higher is better)
Rise Of The Tomb Raider
DX12, Very High Details, Pure Hair On, HBAO+
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB17
- Radeon R9 290X24
FPS (higher is better)
Thief 2014
DX11, Very High Details
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB24
- Radeon R9 290X26
FPS (higher is better)
Tom Clancy's The Division
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF
- GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB23
- Radeon R9 290X25
FPS (higher is better)