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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M vs AMD Radeon R9 M290X

NVIDIA
VS
AMD
Performance
GeForce GTX 660M
2,3692% of 104,737
Radeon R9 M290X188% better
6,8177% of 104,737

The Radeon R9 M290X has 188% better performance than the GeForce GTX 660M for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 660M
No data available
Radeon R9 M290X
No data available

We do not have any performance per dollar data for the GeForce GTX 660M and the Radeon R9 M290X for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

#

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M is an end-of-life mobile graphics card that released in Q1 2012. It is built on the Kepler GPU microarchitecture (codename GK107) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The GTX 660M has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,250 MHz memory clock and a 128 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 80 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 GTX 660M includes 384 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 835 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 950 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 32 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 16 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GPU has a thermal design power (TDP) of 50 W. A power supply not strong enough to handle this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

Benchmark Performance

The GTX 660M has the 336th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 2.26% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

About the AMD Radeon R9 M290X GPU

The AMD Radeon R9 M290X is an end-of-life mobile graphics card that released in Q1 2014. It is built on the GCN 1.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Neptune) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The R9 M290X has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,200 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 153.6 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 R9 M290X includes 1,280 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 850 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 900 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 80 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GPU has a thermal design power (TDP) of 100 W. A power supply not strong enough to handle this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

Benchmark Performance

The R9 M290X has the 221st best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 6.51% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

General Info

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

InfoGeForce GTX 660MRadeon R9 M290X
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitectureKeplerGCN 1.0
Market SegmentMobileMobile
Release DateQ1 2012Q1 2014
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 BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite
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 BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite
GeForce GTX 660MRadeon R9 M290X
Low - 720p
127 FPS
165 FPS(+30.12%)
Medium - 768p
72 FPS
140 FPS(+93.37%)
High - 768p
64 FPS
125 FPS(+94.84%)
Ultra - 1080p
23 FPS
47 FPS(+104.37%)
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 GTX 660M or
GPUFrames Per Second
Quadro M2000M47+105%
GeForce GTX 780M47+105%
Radeon R9 M290X46.8+104%
GeForce GTX 680M46+101%
Radeon HD 8970M45+97%
GeForce GT 755M24.2+6%
GeForce GTX 670M23.1+1%
GeForce GTX 660M22.9
Radeon 540X22.2-3%
FirePro M510021-8%

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 GTX 660M orRadeon R9 M290X
GPUCost Per Frame
Our database does not have enough data to compare the FPS per dollar with other GPUs.

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
GeForce GTX 660M
2,3692% of 104,737
Radeon R9 M290X188% better
6,8177% of 104,737

The Radeon R9 M290X has 188% better performance than the GeForce GTX 660M for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 660M is ranked 336th with a score of 2,369, and the Radeon R9 M290X is ranked 221st with a score of 6,817.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 660M
No data available
Radeon R9 M290X
No data available

We do not have any performance per dollar data for the GeForce GTX 660M and the Radeon R9 M290X for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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 GTX 660M or
GPUBenchmark Performance
Radeon R9 M390 (Mac Edition)6,819+188%
Radeon HD 8970M6,818+188%
Radeon R9 M290X6,817+188%
Radeon Pro 4606,749+185%
GeForce GTX 680MX (Mac Edition)6,736+184%
Quadro K2100M2,393.5+1%
Radeon 610M2,379+0%
GeForce GTX 660M2,369
Quadro M500M2,364.5-0%
FirePro W4190M2,351-1%

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 GTX 660M orRadeon R9 M290X
GPUPerformance Per Dollar
Our database does not have enough data to compare the benchmark performance per dollar with other GPUs.

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 GTX 660MRadeon R9 M290X
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
12,861
33,147
(+157.73%)
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
1,751
5,294
(+202.34%)
3DMark 11 Performance Score
2,543
6,859
(+169.72%)
PassMark G3D Mark
1,440
3,263
(+126.6%)
PassMark G2D Mark
265
424
(+60%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
--
62
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

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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 GTX 660MRadeon R9 M290X
CodenameGK107Neptune
ArchitectureKeplerGCN 1.0
Process Size28 nm28 nm
Transistors1,270 million2,800 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 GTX 660MRadeon R9 M290X
Memory Size2 GB4 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth80 Gb/s153.6 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,250 MHz1,200 MHz
Memory Interface128 bit256 bit
L1 Cache16 KB16 KB
L2 Cache256 KB512 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 GTX 660MRadeon R9 M290X
Bus InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)50 W100 W
OutputsDevice DependentDevice Dependent

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 GTX 660MRadeon R9 M290X
Stream Processors (SP)--1,280
CUDA Cores384--
Compute Units (CU)--20
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)2--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)3280
Render Output Units (ROP)1632
Core Clock Speed835 MHz850 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)950 MHz900 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 GTX 660MRadeon R9 M290X
Pixel Fill Rate7.6 GPixel/s28.8 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate30.4 GTexel/s72 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance729.6 GFLOPS2.3 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance30.4 GFLOPS144 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 GTX 660MRadeon R9 M290X
DirectX12 (11_0)12 (11_1)
OpenCL3.02.1 (1.2)
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.5 (5.1)6.5 (5.1)

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