Radeon R9 M290X vs Apple M1 8-Core GPU

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Apple M1 8-Core GPU and Radeon R9 M290X, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

Apple M1 8-Core GPU
2020
14.49
+71.5%

Apple M1 8-Core GPU outperforms R9 M290X by an impressive 71% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking360500
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiencyno data5.79
Architectureno dataGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code nameno dataNeptune
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date10 November 2020 (4 years ago)9 January 2014 (10 years ago)

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores81280
Compute unitsno data20
Core clock speed1278 MHz850 MHz
Boost clock speedno data900 MHz
Number of transistorsno data2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology5 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data100 Watt
Texture fill rateno data72.00
Floating-point processing powerno data2.304 TFLOPS
ROPsno data32
TMUsno data80

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop sizeno datalarge
Bus supportno dataPCIe 3.0 x16
Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeno dataGDDR5
Maximum RAM amountno data4 GB
Memory bus widthno data256 Bit
Memory clock speedno data1200 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data153.6 GB/s
Shared memory+-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectorsno dataNo outputs
Eyefinity-+

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

FreeSync-+
HD3D-+
PowerTune-+
DualGraphics-+
ZeroCore-+
Switchable graphics-+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectXno dataDirectX® 11
Shader Modelno data5.1
OpenGLno data4.4
OpenCLno dataNot Listed
Mantle-+

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD29
−58.6%
46
+58.6%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+69.2%
12−14
−69.2%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+52.4%
21−24
−52.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+91.7%
12−14
−91.7%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+76.9%
24−27
−76.9%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+64.7%
16−18
−64.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+69.2%
12−14
−69.2%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+73.7%
18−20
−73.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+62.5%
24−27
−62.5%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+64.3%
55−60
−64.3%
Hitman 3 27−30
+68.8%
16−18
−68.8%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+50%
45−50
−50%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+80.8%
24−27
−80.8%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+69.6%
21−24
−69.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+64.3%
27−30
−64.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+31%
55−60
−31%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+52.4%
21−24
−52.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+91.7%
12−14
−91.7%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+76.9%
24−27
−76.9%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+64.7%
16−18
−64.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+69.2%
12−14
−69.2%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+73.7%
18−20
−73.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+62.5%
24−27
−62.5%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+64.3%
55−60
−64.3%
Hitman 3 27−30
+68.8%
16−18
−68.8%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+50%
45−50
−50%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+80.8%
24−27
−80.8%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+69.6%
21−24
−69.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+64.3%
27−30
−64.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+41.7%
24−27
−41.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+31%
55−60
−31%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+52.4%
21−24
−52.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+91.7%
12−14
−91.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+64.7%
16−18
−64.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+69.2%
12−14
−69.2%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+73.7%
18−20
−73.7%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+64.3%
55−60
−64.3%
Hitman 3 27−30
+68.8%
16−18
−68.8%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+50%
45−50
−50%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+64.3%
27−30
−64.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+41.7%
24−27
−41.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+31%
55−60
−31%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+69.6%
21−24
−69.6%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 27−30
+68.8%
16−18
−68.8%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
+69.2%
12−14
−69.2%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+87.5%
8−9
−87.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+75%
4−5
−75%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+60%
10−11
−60%
Forza Horizon 4 70−75
+112%
30−35
−112%
Hitman 3 16−18
+41.7%
12−14
−41.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+61.1%
18−20
−61.1%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+118%
10−12
−118%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
+167%
9−10
−167%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+87.5%
8−9
−87.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 85−90
+61.1%
50−55
−61.1%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+64.3%
14−16
−64.3%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
+66.7%
6−7
−66.7%
Hitman 3 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Horizon Zero Dawn 65−70
+116%
30−35
−116%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+117%
6−7
−117%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 7−8
+75%
4−5
−75%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
+75%
4−5
−75%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+90%
10−11
−90%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+225%
4−5
−225%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+62.5%
8−9
−62.5%

This is how Apple M1 8-Core GPU and R9 M290X compete in popular games:

  • R9 M290X is 59% faster in 1080p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Apple M1 8-Core GPU is 225% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, Apple M1 8-Core GPU surpassed R9 M290X in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 14.49 8.45
Recency 10 November 2020 9 January 2014
Chip lithography 5 nm 28 nm

Apple M1 8-Core GPU has a 71.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The Apple M1 8-Core GPU is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 M290X in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Apple M1 8-Core GPU
M1 8-Core GPU
AMD Radeon R9 M290X
Radeon R9 M290X

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


4 922 votes

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3.2 12 votes

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Questions & comments

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