Radeon HD 5970 vs Radeon R9 290X
If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon HD 5970 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 Radeon HD 5970 stacks up against Radeon R9 290X, check out specs charts below.
Radeon HD 5970
Main Specs
Radeon HD 5970
Radeon R9 290X
Power consumption (TDP)
294 Watt
250 Watt
Interface
PCIe 2.0 x16
PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors
1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount
1 GB
4 GB
Display Connectors
2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort
2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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Radeon HD 5970 has 17% more power consumption, than Radeon R9 290X.
Radeon HD 5970 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R9 290X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
Radeon R9 290X has 3 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 5970.
Both cards are used in Desktops.
Radeon HD 5970 is build with TeraScale 2 architecture, and Radeon R9 290X - with GCN.
Radeon HD 5970 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 290X - by 28 nm process technology.
Radeon HD 5970 is 30 mm longer, than Radeon R9 290X.
Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 5970 is 2750 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 290X.
Game benchmarks
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Battlefield 5
Call of Duty: Warzone
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Cyberpunk 2077
Dota 2
Far Cry 5
Fortnite
Forza Horizon 4
Grand Theft Auto V
Metro Exodus
Minecraft
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
Red Dead Redemption 2
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
World of Tanks
high / 1080p
10−12
35−40
ultra / 1080p
6−7
24−27
QHD / 1440p
1−2
18−20
4K / 2160p
−
10−11
low / 720p
24−27
60−65
medium / 1080p
14−16
45−50
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 245% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
high / 1080p
18−20
60−65
ultra / 1080p
16−18
50−55
QHD / 1440p
1−2
35−40
4K / 2160p
−
18−20
low / 720p
35−40
110−120
medium / 1080p
20−22
65−70
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Battlefield 5 is 252% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
low / 768p
45−50
50−55
QHD / 1440p
0−1
0−1
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Call of Duty: Warzone is 10% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
low / 768p
180−190
250−260
medium / 768p
150−160
220−230
ultra / 1080p
75−80
190−200
QHD / 1440p
45−50
110−120
4K / 2160p
30−33
70−75
high / 768p
110−120
210−220
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is 77% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
low / 768p
55−60
60−65
ultra / 1080p
30−33
−
medium / 1080p
45−50
55−60
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Cyberpunk 2077 is 15% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
low / 768p
95−100
120−130
medium / 768p
80−85
110−120
ultra / 1080p
50−55
100−110
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Dota 2 is 49% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
high / 1080p
12−14
45−50
ultra / 1080p
12−14
45−50
QHD / 1440p
−
30−35
4K / 2160p
5−6
16−18
low / 720p
30−33
85−90
medium / 1080p
14−16
50−55
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Far Cry 5 is 233% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
high / 1080p
20−22
65−70
ultra / 1080p
14−16
50−55
QHD / 1440p
−
30−35
4K / 2160p
−
27−30
low / 720p
80−85
180−190
medium / 1080p
35−40
120−130
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Fortnite is 174% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
high / 1080p
18−20
65−70
ultra / 1080p
16−18
45−50
QHD / 1440p
5−6
35−40
4K / 2160p
−
24−27
low / 720p
40−45
110−120
medium / 1080p
21−24
70−75
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Forza Horizon 4 is 223% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
low / 768p
70−75
140−150
medium / 768p
60−65
130−140
high / 1080p
21−24
75−80
ultra / 1080p
9−10
30−35
QHD / 1440p
0−1
24−27
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Grand Theft Auto V is 136% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
high / 1080p
7−8
27−30
ultra / 1080p
5−6
21−24
QHD / 1440p
−
18−20
4K / 2160p
1−2
9−10
low / 720p
21−24
70−75
medium / 1080p
10−11
35−40
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Metro Exodus is 277% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
low / 768p
100−110
130−140
ultra / 1080p
95−100
−
medium / 1080p
100−105
120−130
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Minecraft is 26% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
high / 1080p
20−22
−
ultra / 1080p
16−18
14−16
low / 720p
45−50
100−110
medium / 1080p
21−24
18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS is 58% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
high / 1080p
12−14
27−30
ultra / 1080p
8−9
18−20
QHD / 1440p
0−1
12−14
4K / 2160p
−
8−9
low / 720p
21−24
70−75
medium / 1080p
12−14
35−40
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Red Dead Redemption 2 is 178% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
low / 768p
40−45
140−150
medium / 768p
24−27
90−95
high / 1080p
14−16
50−55
ultra / 1080p
8−9
27−30
4K / 2160p
7−8
16−18
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is 252% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
low / 768p
95−100
90−95
medium / 768p
55−60
60−65
ultra / 1080p
27−30
55−60
high / 768p
45−50
−
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in World of Tanks is 14% more, than Radeon HD 5970.
Full Specs
Radeon HD 5970
Radeon R9 290X
Architecture
TeraScale 2
GCN
Code name
Hemlock
Hawaii XT
Type
Desktop
Desktop
Release date
18 November 2009
24 October 2013
Pipelines
1600
2816
Core clock speed
725 MHz
Boost Clock
947 MHz
Transistor count
2,154 million
6,200 million
Manufacturing process technology
40 nm
28 nm
Texture fill rate
58.00
176.0
Floating-point performance
2x 2,320.0 gflops
5,632 gflops
Length
305 mm
275 mm
Memory bus width
256 Bit
512 Bit
Memory clock speed
4000 MHz
1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth
128.0 GB/s
320 GB/s
Shared memory
-
DirectX
11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model
5.0
6.3
OpenGL
4.4
4.6
OpenCL
1.2
2.0
Vulkan
N/A
+
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight)
0.76 kh/s
FreeSync
+
Bus support
PCIe 3.0
HDMI
+
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256)
623 Mh/s
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
AppAcceleration
+
LiquidVR
+
TressFX
+
UVD
+
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