Radeon RX 590 vs GeForce 9800 GTX

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce 9800 GTX and Radeon RX 590, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

9800 GTX
2008
512 MB GDDR3, 140 Watt
1.99

RX 590 outperforms 9800 GTX by a whopping 1123% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking888226
Place by popularitynot in top-10098
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.0725.58
Power efficiency1.0310.04
ArchitectureTesla (2006−2010)GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code nameG92Polaris 30
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date28 March 2008 (16 years ago)15 November 2018 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$299 $279

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 590 has 36443% better value for money than 9800 GTX.

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 cores1282304
Core clock speed675 MHz1469 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1545 MHz
Number of transistors754 million5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)140 Watt175 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate43.20222.5
Floating-point processing power0.4321 TFLOPS7.119 TFLOPS
ROPs1632
TMUs64144

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).

Bus supportPCI-E 2.0no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length267 mm241 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 8-pin
SLI options+-

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 typeGDDR3GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount512 MB8 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1100 MHz2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth70.4 GB/s256.0 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 ConnectorsHDTVDual Link DVI1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMIVia Adapter+
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIS/PDIFno data

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX11.1 (10_0)12 (12_0)
Shader Model4.06.4
OpenGL2.14.6
OpenCL1.12.0
VulkanN/A1.2.131
CUDA+-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

9800 GTX 1.99
RX 590 24.33
+1123%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

9800 GTX 769
RX 590 9389
+1121%

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 HD8−9
−1125%
98
+1125%
1440p4−5
−1300%
56
+1300%
4K3−4
−1133%
37
+1133%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 65
+0%
65
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 86
+0%
86
+0%
Battlefield 5 136
+0%
136
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 69
+0%
69
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Far Cry 5 90
+0%
90
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 90
+0%
90
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 274
+0%
274
+0%
Hitman 3 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 301
+0%
301
+0%
Metro Exodus 124
+0%
124
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 91
+0%
91
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 140
+0%
140
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 272
+0%
272
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 113
+0%
113
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 73
+0%
73
+0%
Battlefield 5 122
+0%
122
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 64
+0%
64
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Far Cry 5 74
+0%
74
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 71
+0%
71
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 259
+0%
259
+0%
Hitman 3 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 287
+0%
287
+0%
Metro Exodus 97
+0%
97
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 74
+0%
74
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 114
+0%
114
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 261
+0%
261
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 39
+0%
39
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 62
+0%
62
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 46
+0%
46
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Far Cry 5 55
+0%
55
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 91
+0%
91
+0%
Hitman 3 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 96
+0%
96
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 100
+0%
100
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 51
+0%
51
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35
+0%
35
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 64
+0%
64
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 55
+0%
55
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 38
+0%
38
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Hitman 3 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 72
+0%
72
+0%
Metro Exodus 58
+0%
58
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 70
+0%
70
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−33
+0%
30−33
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 203
+0%
203
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 43
+0%
43
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 39
+0%
39
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 26
+0%
26
+0%
Hitman 3 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 57
+0%
57
+0%
Metro Exodus 36
+0%
36
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 32
+0%
32
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 19
+0%
19
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 42
+0%
42
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20
+0%
20
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry 5 17
+0%
17
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 46
+0%
46
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40
+0%
40
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 13
+0%
13
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 30
+0%
30
+0%

This is how 9800 GTX and RX 590 compete in popular games:

  • RX 590 is 1125% faster in 1080p
  • RX 590 is 1300% faster in 1440p
  • RX 590 is 1133% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 1.99 24.33
Recency 28 March 2008 15 November 2018
Maximum RAM amount 512 MB 8 GB
Chip lithography 65 nm 12 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 140 Watt 175 Watt

9800 GTX has 25% lower power consumption.

RX 590, on the other hand, has a 1122.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 441.7% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 590 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 9800 GTX 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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NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX
GeForce 9800 GTX
AMD Radeon RX 590
Radeon RX 590

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.


3.5 169 votes

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Questions & comments

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