NVIDIA GeForce GT 420M vs AMD Radeon R9 290X

VS
Performance
GeForce GT 420M
6851% of 104,598
Radeon R9 290X2,260% better
16,167.515% of 104,598

The Radeon R9 290X has 2,260% better performance than the GeForce GT 420M for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GT 420M
No data available
Radeon R9 290X
29.4518% of 161.45

The Radeon R9 290X has 18% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: AMD Radeon RX 7600.

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Summary

#

About the NVIDIA GeForce GT 420M GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 420M is an end-of-life mobile graphics card that released in Q3 2010. It is built on the Fermi GPU microarchitecture (codename GF108) and is manufactured on a 40 nm process.

Memory

The GT 420M has 1,024 MB of DDR3 memory, with a 800 MHz memory clock and a 128 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 25.6 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The GT 420M includes 96 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 500 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 16 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 4 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GPU has a thermal design power (TDP) of 23 W. A power supply not strong enough to handle this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

Benchmark Performance

The GT 420M has the 490th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 0.65% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

About the AMD Radeon R9 290X GPU

The AMD Radeon R9 290X is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q4 2013 with a MSRP of $549. It is built on the GCN 2.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Hawaii) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The R9 290X has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,250 MHz memory clock and a 512 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 320 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The R9 290X includes 2,816 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,000 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 176 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 64 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The R9 290X occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.2 display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 600 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 290 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The R9 290X has the 137th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 15.46% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 16,167.5 score and $549 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 29.45. This is the 80th best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

General Info

General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.

InfoGeForce GT 420MRadeon R9 290X
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitectureFermiGCN 2.0
Market SegmentMobileDesktop
Release DateQ3 2010Q4 2013
Launch Price (MSRP)--$549
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Display FPS for Rise of the Tomb Raider
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Display FPS for Dota 2 - Reborn
Dota 2 - Reborn
Display FPS for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3
Display FPS for Grand Theft Auto V
GTA V
Display FPS for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
CS: GO

FPS Benchmarks

This table showcases the average frame rate (FPS) achieved both GPUs in at various resolutions. Frame rate is a crucial indicator of how smoothly the GPU can run the game. A higher FPS generally translates to a smoother gameplay experience.

  • Frames Per Second
FPS data for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
GeForce GT 420MRadeon R9 290X
Low - 720p
--
--
Medium - 768p
--
--
High - 1080p
--
61 FPS
Ultra - 1080p
--
33 FPS
QHD - 1440p
--
--
4K UHD - 2160p
--
--
FPS Source: Notebookcheck

Compare Frames Per Second (FPS)

The average frame rate (FPS) in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, higher FPS results in a smoother gameplay experience.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce GT 420M orRadeon R9 290X

Compare Cost Per Frame

The average cost per frame in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. Generally, a lower cost per frame implies better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce GT 420M orRadeon R9 290X
GPUCost Per Frame
GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)9.65-42%
Radeon VII9.99-40%
GeForce GTX 97011.71-29%
Radeon R9 FURY15.42-7%
GeForce GTX 980 Ti15.75-5%
Radeon R9 290X16.59
GeForce GTX 98016.94+2%
GeForce GTX 68056.07+238%

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
GeForce GT 420M
6851% of 104,598
Radeon R9 290X2,260% better
16,167.515% of 104,598

The Radeon R9 290X has 2,260% better performance than the GeForce GT 420M for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GT 420M is ranked 490th with a score of 685, and the Radeon R9 290X is ranked 137th with a score of 16,167.5.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GT 420M
No data available
Radeon R9 290X
29.4518% of 161.45

The Radeon R9 290X has 45% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

Radeon R9 290X's 29.45 performance per dollar ranks it 0th among the other benchmarked GPUs in our database.

Relative Performance

The average score in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce GT 420M or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)17,401+2,440%
Radeon R9 Nano17,282+2,423%
Radeon R9 290X16,167.5+2,260%
GeForce GTX 97016,033+2,241%
GeForce GTX 780 Ti15,619+2,180%
GeForce GT 425M753+10%
Radeon HD 7610M749+9%
GeForce GT 420M685
Radeon HD 6490M601-12%
GeForce GT 520MX596.5-13%

Relative Value For Money

The average performance per dollar in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. A higher score implies a better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce GT 420M orRadeon R9 290X
GPUPerformance Per Dollar
Radeon R9 280X36.09+23%
GeForce GTX 980 Ti35.53+21%
GeForce GTX 98032.07+9%
GeForce GTX 76031.98+9%
Radeon R9 FURY31.95+9%
Radeon R9 290X29.45
GeForce GTX 660 Ti28.14-4%
Radeon R9 Nano26.63-10%
GeForce GTX 780 Ti22.34-24%
GeForce GTX 68020.47-30%

Benchmark Scores

This table showcases the average performance scores achieved by both GPUs across industry-standard benchmark tests. These scores provide a valuable insight into overall performance. Powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

  • Popular
BenchmarkGeForce GT 420MRadeon R9 290X
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
--
4,003
3DMark Time Spy Score
--
4,114
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
--
73,987
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
--
11,717
3DMark 11 Performance Score
775
13,415
(+1,630.97%)
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
--
142
PassMark G3D Mark
397
8,623
(+2,072.04%)
PassMark G2D Mark
86
765
(+789.53%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
--
140
Unigine Heaven 3.0 OpenGL
--
111
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

#

Graphics Processor

General information about the graphics processing unit like their architecture, manufacturing process size, and transistor count. Newer GPU architectures generally bring efficiency improvements and may introduce technologies that enhance graphical capabilities.

SpecGeForce GT 420MRadeon R9 290X
CodenameGF108Hawaii
ArchitectureFermiGCN 2.0
Process Size40 nm28 nm
Transistors585 million6,200 million

Memory Details

Memory specifications like their capacity, bandwidth, and clock speeds. GPU memory stores graphics data like frames, textures, and shadows which helps display rendered images. These specs are crucial for graphics-intense applications like gaming and 3D modeling.

SpecGeForce GT 420MRadeon R9 290X
Memory Size1,024 MB4 GB
Memory TypeDDR3GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth25.6 Gb/s320 Gb/s
Memory Clock800 MHz1,250 MHz
Memory Interface128 bit512 bit
L1 Cache64 KB16 KB
L2 Cache256 KB1,024 KB

Board Compatibility

Compatibility information like their slot size, bus interface, power consumption, and display support. These specs are useful for verifying compatibility with your motherboard, power supply, and monitor.

SpecGeForce GT 420MRadeon R9 290X
Slots--2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)23 W290 W
Suggested PSU--600 W
Power Connectors--1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
OutputsDevice DependentDVI, HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.2

Cores & Clock Speeds

Processing power information like its cores and clock speed. These specs impact how fast they can process graphics. Each type of core or component serves a specific computational purpose.

SpecGeForce GT 420MRadeon R9 290X
Stream Processors (SP)--2,816
CUDA Cores96--
Compute Units (CU)--44
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)2--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)16176
Render Output Units (ROP)464
Core Clock Speed500 MHz1,000 MHz

Theoretical Performance

Theoretical performance numbers derived from the raw specifications of the different components like core count and clock speeds. While these provide a glimpse into peak processing power, they do not represent real-world performance.

SpecGeForce GT 420MRadeon R9 290X
Pixel Fill Rate2 GPixel/s64 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate8 GTexel/s176 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance192 GFLOPS5.63 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance16 GFLOPS704 GFLOPS

API Support

Graphics API versions supported by these graphics cards. APIs evolve over time, introducing new features and functionalities. Older GPUs may not support recent versions.

SpecGeForce GT 420MRadeon R9 290X
DirectX12 (11_0)12 (12_0)
OpenCL1.12.1
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model5.16.5

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* Performance rating, performance per dollar, and rankings are based on the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark and MSRP.