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    GeForce GTX 960M vs Radeon R9 290X

    If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between GeForce GTX 960M and Radeon R9 290X, there are a couple of things to consider. Cards with more VRAM in general perform better and allow you to play on higher graphics settings. Size also makes a difference. A model with a large heatsink can occupy up to three expansion slots on a motherboard. Be sure you have enough room in your PC case. When comparing GPUs with different architectures, more processing cores and even higher TFLOPS will not always translate to better performance. To help you decide which GPU you need, we have measured frame rates in a number of popular games. For more on how the GeForce GTX 960M stacks up against Radeon R9 290X, check out specs charts below.
    GeForce GTX 960M Check Price
    Radeon R9 290X Check Price

    GeForce GTX 960M is a Laptop Graphics Card

    Note: GeForce GTX 960M 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 GeForce GTX 960M here:

    GeForce GTX 960M Laptops

    Main Specs

      GeForce GTX 960M Radeon R9 290X
    Power consumption (TDP) 75 Watt 250 Watt
    Interface MXM-B (3.0) PCIe 3.0 x16
    Supplementary power connectors 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
    Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
    Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 4 GB
    Display Connectors No outputs 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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    • Radeon R9 290X has 233% more power consumption, than GeForce GTX 960M.
    • GeForce GTX 960M is connected by MXM-B (3.0), and Radeon R9 290X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
    • GeForce GTX 960M and Radeon R9 290X have maximum RAM of 4 GB.
    • GeForce GTX 960M is used in Laptops, and Radeon R9 290X - in Desktops.
    • GeForce GTX 960M is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon R9 290X - with GCN.
    • GeForce GTX 960M and Radeon R9 290X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
    • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 960M is 1250 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 290X.

    Game benchmarks

    high / 1080p 18−20 35−40
    ultra / 1080p 10−11 24−27
    QHD / 1440p 4−5 18−20
    4K / 2160p 4−5 10−11
    low / 720p 35−40 60−65
    medium / 1080p 21−24 45−50
    The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 106% more, than GeForce GTX 960M.

    Full Specs

      GeForce GTX 960M Radeon R9 290X
    Architecture Maxwell GCN
    Code name N16P-GX Hawaii XT
    Type Laptop Desktop
    Release date 12 March 2015 24 October 2013
    Pipelines 640 2816
    Core clock speed 1096 MHz
    Boost Clock 1202 MHz 947 MHz
    Transistor count 1,870 million 6,200 million
    Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
    Texture fill rate 47.04 176.0
    Floating-point performance 1,505 gflops 5,632 gflops
    Length 275 mm
    Memory bus width 128 Bit 512 Bit
    Memory clock speed 2500 MHz 1250 MHz
    Memory bandwidth 80 GB/s 320 GB/s
    Shared memory - -
    DirectX 12 (11_0)
    Shader Model 5.1 6.3
    OpenGL 4.5 4.6
    OpenCL 1.2 2.0
    Vulkan 1.1.126 +
    CUDA +
    Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.76 kh/s
    FreeSync +
    CUDA cores 640
    Bus support PCI Express 3.0 PCIe 3.0
    SLI options +
    HDMI + +
    Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 175 Mh/s 623 Mh/s
    Laptop size medium sized
    DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support +
    H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder +
    Optimus +
    Eyefinity +
    HD3D +
    TrueAudio +
    Design reference
    DisplayPort support +
    CrossFire +
    DDMA audio +
    Decred / DCR (Decred) 1.07 Gh/s
    Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 25.75 Mh/s
    Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 350 Sol/s
    GameStream +
    GeForce ShadowPlay +
    GPU Boost 2.0
    GameWorks +
    BatteryBoost +
    AppAcceleration +
    LiquidVR +
    TressFX +
    UVD +
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