GeForce GTX 260 vs Radeon HD 8790M

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 8790M you will find out which graphics card performs better in today's games. Bear in mind that third-party versions may have more efficient cooling and higher clock speeds. This will increase cards' performance, though not by much. In addition to raw power you should also take into account the dimensions. Thicker models simply will not fit into a small mini-ITX case. The resolution of your monitor also affects the choice, since 4K gameplay requires a more powerful GPU. And don't overspend on the graphics card. Other parts of your build may also need to be upgraded, save some money for the CPU or power supply. For some people GeForce GTX 260 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 8790M will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon HD 8790M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 8790M is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with Radeon HD 8790M here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 260 Radeon HD 8790M
Power consumption (TDP) 182 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 MXM-A (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin None
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 896 MB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video No outputs
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  • GeForce GTX 260 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 8790M uses MXM-A (3.0) interface.
  • GeForce GTX 260 has 894 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 8790M.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 8790M - in Laptops.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is build with Tesla 2.0 architecture, and Radeon HD 8790M - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 260 is 392 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8790M.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is manufactured by 65 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 8790M - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 8790M is 3501 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 260.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 3−4 3−4
ultra / 1080p 1−2 1−2
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 14−16 14−16
medium / 1080p 5−6 6−7
GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 8790M have the same average FPS in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 260 Radeon HD 8790M
Architecture Tesla 2.0 GCN
Code name GT200 Mars XTX
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 16 June 2008 16 November 2012
Pipelines 192 384
Core clock speed 1242 MHz 850 MHz
Boost Clock 900 MHz
Transistor count 1,400 million 950 million
Manufacturing process technology 65 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 36.9 billion/sec 21.60
Floating-point performance 476.9 gflops 691.2 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)
Memory bus width 448 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 999 MHz 4500 MHz
Memory bandwidth 111.9 GB/s 64 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 11.1 (10_0) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 4.0 5.1
OpenGL 2.1 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
CUDA +
CUDA cores 192
Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support +
HDMI +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI S/PDIF
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 30 Mh/s 80 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized
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