Radeon HD 6790 vs Radeon R9 290X

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Radeon HD 6790 and Radeon R9 290X. Here you can take a closer look at graphics cards specs, such as core clock speed, memory type and size, display connectors, etc. The price, overall benchmark and gaming performances are usually defining factors when it comes to choosing between Radeon HD 6790 and Radeon R9 290X. Make sure that the graphics card has compatible dimensions and will properly fit in your new or current computer case. Also these graphics cards may have different system power recommendations, so take that into consideration and upgrade your PSU if necessary.

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 6790 Radeon R9 290X
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 250 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-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 HDMI, 1x DisplayPort 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon R9 290X has 66% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 6790.
  • Radeon HD 6790 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 6790.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 6790 is build with Terascale 2 architecture, and Radeon R9 290X - with GCN.
  • Radeon HD 6790 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 290X - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon R9 290X is 77 mm longer, than Radeon HD 6790.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon R9 290X is 200 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 6790.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 7−8 35−40
ultra / 1080p 4−5 24−27
QHD / 1440p 0−1 18−20
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 18−20 60−65
medium / 1080p 9−10 45−50
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 330% more, than Radeon HD 6790.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 6790 Radeon R9 290X
Architecture Terascale 2 GCN
Code name Barts Hawaii XT
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 4 April 2011 24 October 2013
Pipelines 800 2816
Core clock speed 840 MHz
Boost Clock 947 MHz
Transistor count 1,700 million 6,200 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 33.60 176.0
Floating-point performance 1,344.0 gflops 5,632 gflops
Length 198 mm 275 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 512 Bit
Memory clock speed 1050 MHz 1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth 134.4 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) 122 Mh/s 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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