Radeon HD 7970 vs Radeon R9 290X

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Radeon HD 7970 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 7970 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 7970 Radeon R9 290X
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt 250 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 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 3 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 7970 has 20% more power consumption, than Radeon R9 290X.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon R9 290X has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7970.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon R9 290X are build with GCN architecture.
  • Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon R9 290X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon R9 290X is 1 mm longer, than Radeon HD 7970.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7970 is 125 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 290X.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 35−40
ultra / 1080p 21−24 24−27
QHD / 1440p 16−18 18−20
4K / 2160p 10−11 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 60−65
medium / 1080p 40−45 45−50
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 3% more, than Radeon HD 7970.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7970 Radeon R9 290X
Architecture GCN GCN
Code name Tahiti XT Hawaii XT
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 22 December 2011 24 October 2013
Pipelines 2048 2816
Boost Clock 925 MHz 947 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million 6,200 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 118.4 176.0
Floating-point performance 3,789 gflops 5,632 gflops
Length 274 mm 275 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit 512 Bit
Memory clock speed 1375 MHz 1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth 264 GB/s 320 GB/s
Shared memory - -
Shader Model 5.1 6.3
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 2.0
Vulkan +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.76 kh/s
FreeSync + +
Bus support PCIe 2.1 x16 PCIe 3.0
HDMI + +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 485 Mh/s 623 Mh/s
Eyefinity + +
HD3D +
TrueAudio +
Design reference reference
DisplayPort support +
CrossFire + +
DDMA audio +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 1.07 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 20.71 Mh/s 25.75 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 350 Sol/s
AppAcceleration +
LiquidVR +
TressFX +
UVD +
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