GeForce GTX 970 vs Radeon R9 M390X

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between GeForce GTX 970 and Radeon R9 M390X, 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 970 stacks up against Radeon R9 M390X, check out specs charts below.

Radeon R9 M390X is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon R9 M390X 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 R9 M390X here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 970 Radeon R9 M390X
Power consumption (TDP) 148 Watt 100 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pins None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort No outputs
Recommended system power (PSU) 500 Watt
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  • GeForce GTX 970 has 48% more power consumption, than Radeon R9 M390X.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • GeForce GTX 970 and Radeon R9 M390X have maximum RAM of 4 GB.
  • GeForce GTX 970 is used in Desktops, and Radeon R9 M390X - in Laptops.
  • GeForce GTX 970 is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon R9 M390X - with GCN 3.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 970 is 327 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 M390X.
  • GeForce GTX 970 and Radeon R9 M390X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 50−55 21−24
ultra / 1080p 30−35 12−14
QHD / 1440p 27−30 8−9
4K / 2160p 14−16 5−6
low / 720p 75−80 40−45
medium / 1080p 60−65 27−30
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 120% more, than Radeon R9 M390X.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 970 Radeon R9 M390X
Architecture Maxwell GCN 3
Code name GM204 Amethyst (XT) / Tonga
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 19 September 2014 9 June 2015
Pipelines 1664 2048
Core clock speed 1050 MHz 723 MHz
Boost Clock 1178 MHz
Transistor count 5,200 million 5,000 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 109 billion/sec 92.54
Floating-point performance 3,920 gflops 2,961 gflops
Length 10.5" (26.7 cm)
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 7.0 GB/s
Memory bandwidth 224 GB/s 160.0 GB/s
Shared memory - -
G-SYNC support +
DirectX 12 (12_1)
Shader Model 6.4 6.3
OpenGL 4.4 4.4
OpenCL 1.2 Not Listed
Vulkan 1.1.126 +
CUDA +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.48 kh/s
FreeSync +
CUDA cores 1664
Bus support PCI Express 3.0 PCIe 3.0
Height 4.376" (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support 4 displays
HDCP +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI Internal
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 478 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 1.51 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 22.21 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 291.61 Sol/s
GameStream +
GeForce ShadowPlay +
GPU Boost 2.0
GameWorks +
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