Radeon R9 380 vs Radeon R9 M290X

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon R9 380 and Radeon R9 M290X, there are a couple of things to consider. Cards with more VRAM in general perform better and allow you to play on higher graphics settings. Size also makes a difference. A model with a large heatsink can occupy up to three expansion slots on a motherboard. Be sure you have enough room in your PC case. When comparing GPUs with different architectures, more processing cores and even higher TFLOPS will not always translate to better performance. To help you decide which GPU you need, we have measured frame rates in a number of popular games. For more on how the Radeon R9 380 stacks up against Radeon R9 M290X, check out specs charts below.

Radeon R9 M290X is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon R9 M290X is only used in laptop graphics. It has 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 R9 M290X here:

Main Specs

  Radeon R9 380 Radeon R9 M290X
Power consumption (TDP) 190 Watt 100 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2 x 6-pin None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Radeon R9 380 has 90% more power consumption, than Radeon R9 M290X.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon R9 380 and Radeon R9 M290X have maximum RAM of 4 GB.
  • Radeon R9 380 is used in Desktops, and Radeon R9 M290X - in Laptops.
  • Radeon R9 380 and Radeon R9 M290X are build with GCN architecture.
  • Radeon R9 380 and Radeon R9 M290X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon R9 M290X is 230 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 380.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 16−18
ultra / 1080p 21−24 10−11
QHD / 1440p 16−18 4−5
4K / 2160p 10−11 4−5
low / 720p 60−65 30−35
medium / 1080p 40−45 20−22
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 380 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 113% more, than Radeon R9 M290X.

Full Specs

  Radeon R9 380 Radeon R9 M290X
Architecture GCN GCN
Code name Tonga Pro Neptune
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 26 June 2015 7 January 2014
Pipelines 1792 1280
Core clock speed 850 MHz
Boost Clock 970 MHz 900 MHz
Transistor count 5,000 million 2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 108.6 72.00
Floating-point performance 3,476 gflops 2,304 gflops
Length 221 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 970 MHz 1200 MHz
Memory bandwidth 182.4 GB/s 153.6 GB/s
Shared memory - -
Shader Model 6.3 5.1
OpenGL 4.5 4.4
OpenCL 2.0 Not Listed
Vulkan +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.48 kh/s
FreeSync + +
Bus support PCIe 3.0 PCIe 3.0 x16
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 404 Mh/s 300 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity + +
HD3D + +
PowerTune + +
DualGraphics +
TrueAudio +
ZeroCore + +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle + +
Design reference
Bridgeless CrossFire +
Number of Eyefinity displays 6
DisplayPort support +
CrossFire +
VCE +
DDMA audio +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 0.66 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 18 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 168.45 Sol/s
Compute units 28 20
Form factor full height / full length / dual slot
High bandwidth memory (HBM) -
LiquidVR +
FRTC +
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