Radeon HD 4850 X2 vs Radeon R9 M290X

In this comparison between Radeon HD 4850 X2 and Radeon R9 M290X 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 Radeon HD 4850 X2 will be the best choice, for others Radeon R9 M290X will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon R9 M290X is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon R9 M290X 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 M290X here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 4850 X2 Radeon R9 M290X
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 100 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin None
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 512 MB 4 GB
Display Connectors 4x DVI, 1x S-Video No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 4850 X2 has 150% more power consumption, than Radeon R9 M290X.
  • Radeon HD 4850 X2 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R9 M290X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon HD 4850 X2 has 508 GB more memory, than Radeon R9 M290X.
  • Radeon HD 4850 X2 is used in Desktops, and Radeon R9 M290X - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 4850 X2 is build with TeraScale architecture, and Radeon R9 M290X - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon R9 M290X is 225 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 4850 X2.
  • Radeon HD 4850 X2 is manufactured by 55 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 M290X - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 4850 X2 is 790 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 M290X.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 3−4 16−18
ultra / 1080p 2−3 10−11
QHD / 1440p 0−1 4−5
4K / 2160p 4−5
low / 720p 14−16 30−35
medium / 1080p 5−6 20−22
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 M290X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 233% more, than Radeon HD 4850 X2.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 4850 X2 Radeon R9 M290X
Architecture TeraScale GCN
Code name R700 Neptune
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 7 November 2008 7 January 2014
Pipelines 800 1280
Core clock speed 625 MHz 850 MHz
Boost Clock 900 MHz
Transistor count 956 million 2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology 55 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 25.00 72.00
Floating-point performance 2x 1,000.0 gflops 2,304 gflops
Length 267 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1990 MHz 1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth 63.68 GB/s 153.6 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model 4.1 5.1
OpenGL 3.3 4.4
OpenCL 1.1 Not Listed
Vulkan N/A
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 3.0 x16
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 300 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
Compute units 20
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