Radeon HD 6790 vs Radeon R9 M385X

In this comparison between Radeon HD 6790 and Radeon R9 M385X 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 6790 will be the best choice, for others Radeon R9 M385X will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon R9 M385X is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon R9 M385X 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 M385X here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 6790 Radeon R9 M385X
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 6790 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R9 M385X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon R9 M385X has 3 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6790.
  • Radeon HD 6790 is used in Desktops, and Radeon R9 M385X - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 6790 is build with Terascale 2 architecture, and Radeon R9 M385X - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon R9 M385X is 260 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 6790.
  • Radeon HD 6790 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 M385X - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon R9 M385X is 450 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 6790.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 7−8 8−9
ultra / 1080p 4−5 5−6
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 18−20 18−20
medium / 1080p 9−10 10−11
Radeon HD 6790 and Radeon R9 M385X have the same average FPS in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 6790 Radeon R9 M385X
Architecture Terascale 2 GCN
Code name Barts Strato-XT-M3
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 4 April 2011 16 June 2015
Pipelines 800 896
Core clock speed 840 MHz 1100 MHz
Boost Clock 1100 MHz
Transistor count 1,700 million 2,080 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 33.60 61.60
Floating-point performance 1,344.0 gflops 1,971 gflops
Length 198 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 1050 MHz 1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth 134.4 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model 5.0 6.3
OpenGL 4.4 4.4
OpenCL 1.2 Not Listed
Vulkan N/A
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 3.0
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 122 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
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