Graphics card comparison
GeForce GTX 690 vs Radeon R9 290
Nvidia
GeForce GTX 690
2048 Mb GDDR5
Released 3 May 2012
DESKTOP
VS
AMD
Radeon R9 290
4096 Mb GDDR5
Released 5 Nov 2013
DESKTOP
Summary
Synthetic performance index
- GeForce GTX 690115%
- Radeon R9 290100%
Relative performance
Gaming performance index
- GeForce GTX 690117%
- Radeon R9 290100%
Relative performance
Reasons to consider the GeForce GTX 690
- 17% higher gaming performance.
- Supports PhysX
- Supports G-Sync
- Supports ShadowPlay (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
- Based on an outdated architecture (Nvidia Kepler), there are less performance optimizations for current games and applications
Reasons to consider the Radeon R9 290
- This is a much newer product, it might have better long term support.
- 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- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications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 GeForce GTX 690
The GeForce GTX 690 is the better performing card based on the game benchmark suite used (5 combinations of games and resolutions).
Specifications
Core configuration
| GeForce GTX 690 | Radeon R9 290 |
|---|
| GPU Name | GK104 (GK104-355-A2) | Hawaii (Hawaii PRO) |
| Fab Process | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Die Size | 294 mm² | 438 mm² |
| Transistors | 3,540 million | 6,200 million |
| Shaders | 1536 | 2560 |
| Compute Units | 8 | 40 |
| Core clock | 915 MHz | 947 MHz |
| ROPs | 32 | 64 |
| TMUs | 128 | 160 |
Memory configuration
| GeForce GTX 690 | Radeon R9 290 |
|---|
| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 256 bit x2 | 512 bit |
| Memory Speed | 1502 MHz
6008 MHz effective | 1250 MHz
5000 MHz effective |
| Memory Size | 2048 Mb | 4096 Mb |
Additional details
| GeForce GTX 690 | Radeon R9 290 |
|---|
| TDP | 300 watts | 275 watts |
| Release Date | 3 May 2012 | 5 Nov 2013 |
Raw performance comparison
Pixel Rate
- GeForce GTX 69058.60 GP/s
- Radeon R9 29060.60 GP/s
GigaPixels - higher is better
Texel Rate
- GeForce GTX 690234.00 GT/s
- Radeon R9 290152.00 GT/s
GigaTexels - higher is better
Memory bandwidth
- GeForce GTX 690384.00 GB/s
- Radeon R9 290320.00 GB/s
GB/s - higher is better
Single precision performance
- GeForce GTX 6905622.00 GFLOPs
- Radeon R9 2904849.00 GFLOPs
GFLOPs - higher is better
Synthetic benchmarks
3DMark 11
- GeForce GTX 69017860
- Radeon R9 29015440
Points (higher is better)
Game benchmarks
Battlefield 4
DX11, Ultra Quality,2x MSAA,16x AF, HBAO
- GeForce GTX 69098
- Radeon R9 29089
FPS (higher is better)
Bioshock Infinite
DX11, Ultra Quality,DDOD, FX AA
- GeForce GTX 690118
- Radeon R9 29090
FPS (higher is better)
Crysis 3
DX11,Very High Quality, FXAA
- GeForce GTX 69078
- Radeon R9 29053
FPS (higher is better)
Hitman Absolution
DX11, High Quality, 2x MSAA, 16x AF
- GeForce GTX 69072
- Radeon R9 29080
FPS (higher is better)
Metro Last Light
DX11, AAA standard, 16xAF, Motion Blur normal, Tesselation normal
- GeForce GTX 69068
- Radeon R9 29063
FPS (higher is better)