Radeon R9 290X vs Radeon R9 380X

In this comparison between Radeon R9 290X and Radeon R9 380X 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 R9 290X will be the best choice, for others Radeon R9 380X will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  Radeon R9 290X Radeon R9 380X
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 190 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 4 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 31% more power consumption, than Radeon R9 380X.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon R9 290X and Radeon R9 380X have maximum RAM of 4 GB.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon R9 290X is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon R9 380X - with GCN 3.0.
  • Radeon R9 290X and Radeon R9 380X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon R9 290X is 54 mm longer, than Radeon R9 380X.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon R9 290X is 280 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 380X.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 35−40
ultra / 1080p 24−27 21−24
QHD / 1440p 18−20 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 60−65
medium / 1080p 45−50 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 3% more, than Radeon R9 380X.

Full Specs

  Radeon R9 290X Radeon R9 380X
Architecture GCN GCN 3.0
Code name Hawaii XT Antigua
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 24 October 2013 19 November 2015
Pipelines 2816 2048
Boost Clock 947 MHz 970 MHz
Transistor count 6,200 million 5,000 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 176.0 124.2
Floating-point performance 5,632 gflops 3,973 gflops
Length 275 mm 221 mm
Memory bus width 512 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1250 MHz 970 MHz
Memory bandwidth 320 GB/s 182.4 GB/s
Shared memory -
Shader Model 6.3 6.3
OpenGL 4.6 4.5
OpenCL 2.0 2.0
Vulkan + +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.76 kh/s 0.58 kh/s
FreeSync + +
Bus support PCIe 3.0 PCIe 3.0
HDMI + +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 623 Mh/s
Eyefinity + +
HD3D + +
PowerTune +
TrueAudio + +
ZeroCore +
Mantle +
Design reference reference
Bridgeless CrossFire +
Number of Eyefinity displays 6
DisplayPort support + +
CrossFire + +
VCE +
DDMA audio + +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 1.07 Gh/s 0.89 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 25.75 Mh/s 20.63 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 350 Sol/s 175 Sol/s
Compute units 32
Form factor full height / full length
AppAcceleration +
High bandwidth memory (HBM) -
LiquidVR + +
TressFX +
UVD +
FRTC +
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