Radeon HD 8730M vs Radeon R9 M290X

In this comparison between Radeon HD 8730M and Radeon R9 M290X 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 HD 8730M will be the best choice, for others Radeon R9 M290X will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon HD 8730M and Radeon R9 M290X are Laptop Graphics Cards

Note: Radeon HD 8730M 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 Radeon HD 8730M or Radeon R9 M290X here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 8730M Radeon R9 M290X
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x8 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None
Memory type DDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors No outputs No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 8730M is connected by PCIe 3.0 x8, and Radeon R9 M290X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon R9 M290X has 2 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 8730M.
  • Both cards are used in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 8730M and Radeon R9 M290X are build with GCN architecture.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon R9 M290X is 200 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8730M.
  • Radeon HD 8730M and Radeon R9 M290X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 8730M is 800 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 M290X.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 0−1 16−18
ultra / 1080p 10−11
QHD / 1440p 0−1 4−5
4K / 2160p 4−5
low / 720p 1−2 30−35
medium / 1080p 0−1 20−22
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 M290X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 3100% more, than Radeon HD 8730M.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 8730M Radeon R9 M290X
Architecture GCN GCN
Code name Mars Neptune
Type Laptop Laptop
Release date 16 November 2012 7 January 2014
Pipelines 384 1280
Core clock speed 650 MHz 850 MHz
Boost Clock 700 MHz 900 MHz
Transistor count 950 million 2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 16.80 72.00
Floating-point performance 537.6 gflops 2,304 gflops
Memory bus width 128 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 2000 MHz 1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth 32 GB/s 153.6 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.1 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.4
OpenCL 1.2 Not Listed
Vulkan 1.2.131
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 3.0 x16
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 300 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized large
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
Compute units 20
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