Radeon R9 270 vs Radeon R9 M390X

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon R9 270 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 Radeon R9 270 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

  Radeon R9 270 Radeon R9 M390X
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 100 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1 x 6-pin None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Radeon R9 270 has 50% more power consumption, than Radeon R9 M390X.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon R9 M390X has 2 GB more memory, than Radeon R9 270.
  • Radeon R9 270 is used in Desktops, and Radeon R9 M390X - in Laptops.
  • Radeon R9 270 is build with GCN 1.0 architecture, and Radeon R9 M390X - with GCN 3.
  • Radeon R9 270 and Radeon R9 M390X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 21−24 21−24
ultra / 1080p 12−14 12−14
QHD / 1440p 7−8 8−9
4K / 2160p 5−6 5−6
low / 720p 40−45 40−45
medium / 1080p 27−30 27−30
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 M390X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 5% more, than Radeon R9 270.

Full Specs

  Radeon R9 270 Radeon R9 M390X
Architecture GCN 1.0 GCN 3
Code name Curacao Amethyst (XT) / Tonga
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 13 November 2013 9 June 2015
Pipelines 1280 2048
Core clock speed 723 MHz
Boost Clock 925 MHz
Transistor count 2,800 million 5,000 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 74.00 92.54
Floating-point performance 2,368 gflops 2,961 gflops
Length 210 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory bandwidth 179.2 GB/s 160.0 GB/s
Shared memory -
Shader Model 5.1 6.3
OpenGL 4.6 4.4
OpenCL 1.2 Not Listed
Vulkan + +
FreeSync + +
Bus support PCIe 3.0 PCIe 3.0
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 293 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity + +
HD3D + +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
TrueAudio +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
Design reference
DisplayPort support +
CrossFire +
DDMA audio +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 16 Mh/s
LiquidVR +
TressFX +
UVD +
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