NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M vs AMD Radeon R9 M290X

VS
Performance
GeForce GTX 970M45% better
9,877.59% of 104,598
Radeon R9 M290X
6,8177% of 104,598

The GeForce GTX 970M has 45% better performance than the Radeon R9 M290X for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 970M
No data available
Radeon R9 M290X
No data available

We do not have any performance per dollar data for the GeForce GTX 970M and the Radeon R9 M290X for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

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About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M is an end-of-life mobile graphics card that released in Q4 2014. It is built on the Maxwell 2.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename GM204) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The GTX 970M has 6 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,253 MHz memory clock and a 192 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 120.3 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 970M includes 1,280 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 924 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,038 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 80 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 48 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GPU has a thermal design power (TDP) of 81 W. A power supply not strong enough to handle this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

Benchmark Performance

The GTX 970M has the 181st best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 9.44% 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 6.52% 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 970MRadeon R9 M290X
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0GCN 1.0
Market SegmentMobileMobile
Release DateQ4 2014Q1 2014
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

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Dirt Rally 2.0
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Anthem
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Far Cry New Dawn
Display FPS for Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus

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 Rage 2
Rage 2
GeForce GTX 970MRadeon R9 M290X
Low - 720p
67 FPS
--
Medium - 1080p
31 FPS
--
High - 1080p
27 FPS
--
Ultra - 1080p
26 FPS
--
QHD - 1440p
17 FPS
--
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 970M orRadeon R9 M290X

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 970M 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 970M45% better
9,877.59% of 104,598
Radeon R9 M290X
6,8177% of 104,598

The GeForce GTX 970M has 45% better performance than the Radeon R9 M290X for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 970M is ranked 181st with a score of 9,877.5, and the Radeon R9 M290X is ranked 221st with a score of 6,817.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 970M
No data available
Radeon R9 M290X
No data available

We do not have any performance per dollar data for the GeForce GTX 970M 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 970M or
GPUBenchmark Performance
Quadro M4000M10,259+4%
GeForce MX55010,005+1%
GeForce GTX 970M9,877.5
FirePro W7170M9,708-2%
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile9,615.5-3%
Radeon R9 M390 (Mac Edition)6,819-31%
Radeon HD 8970M6,818-31%
Radeon R9 M290X6,817-31%
Radeon Pro 4606,749-32%
Radeon 660M6,743-32%

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 970M 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 970MRadeon R9 M290X
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
51,247
(+54.61%)
33,147
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
7,463
(+40.97%)
5,294
3DMark 11 Performance Score
9,403
(+37.09%)
6,859
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
90.5
--
PassMark G3D Mark
5,724
(+75.8%)
3,256
PassMark G2D Mark
387
427
(+10.34%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
93
(+50%)
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 970MRadeon R9 M290X
CodenameGM204Neptune
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0GCN 1.0
Process Size28 nm28 nm
Transistors5,200 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 970MRadeon R9 M290X
Memory Size6 GB4 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth120.3 Gb/s153.6 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,253 MHz1,200 MHz
Memory Interface192 bit256 bit
L1 Cache48 KB16 KB
L2 Cache1,536 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 970MRadeon R9 M290X
Bus InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)81 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 970MRadeon R9 M290X
Stream Processors (SP)--1,280
CUDA Cores1,280--
Compute Units (CU)--20
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)8080
Render Output Units (ROP)4832
Core Clock Speed924 MHz850 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,038 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 970MRadeon R9 M290X
Pixel Fill Rate49.82 GPixel/s28.8 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate83.04 GTexel/s72 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance2.66 TFLOPS2.3 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance83.04 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 970MRadeon R9 M290X
DirectX12 (12_1)12 (11_1)
OpenCL3.02.1 (1.2)
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.86.5 (5.1)

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