GeForce GTX 980M vs Radeon R9 M290X

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon R9 M290X. 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 GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon R9 M290X. 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.

GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon R9 M290X are Laptop Graphics Cards

Note: GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon R9 M290X are only used in laptop graphics. They have 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 GeForce GTX 980M or Radeon R9 M290X here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 980M Radeon R9 M290X
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt
Interface MXM-B (3.0) PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 8 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors No outputs No outputs
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  • GeForce GTX 980M is connected by MXM-B (3.0), and Radeon R9 M290X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 980M has 4 GB more memory, than Radeon R9 M290X.
  • Both cards are used in Laptops.
  • GeForce GTX 980M is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon R9 M290X - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 980M is 188 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 M290X.
  • GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon R9 M290X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 980M is 1300 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 M290X.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 16−18
ultra / 1080p 24−27 10−11
QHD / 1440p 18−20 4−5
4K / 2160p 10−11 4−5
low / 720p 60−65 30−35
medium / 1080p 45−50 20−22
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 980M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 120% more, than Radeon R9 M290X.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 980M Radeon R9 M290X
Architecture Maxwell GCN
Code name GM204 Neptune
Type Laptop Laptop
Release date 7 October 2014 7 January 2014
Pipelines 1536 1280
Core clock speed 1038 MHz 850 MHz
Boost Clock 1127 MHz 900 MHz
Transistor count 5,200 million 2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 51.84 72.00
Floating-point performance 3,462 gflops 2,304 gflops
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 2500 MHz 1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth 160 GB/s 153.6 GB/s
Shared memory - -
G-SYNC support +
DirectX 12 (12_1)
Shader Model 6.4 5.1
OpenGL 4.5 4.4
OpenCL 1.1 Not Listed
Vulkan 1.1.126
CUDA +
FreeSync +
CUDA cores 1536
Bus support PCI Express 3.0 PCIe 3.0 x16
SLI options +
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 383 Mh/s 300 Mh/s
Laptop size large large
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support +
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder +
Optimus +
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
Compute units 20
GameStream +
GeForce ShadowPlay +
GPU Boost 2.0
GameWorks +
BatteryBoost +
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