Radeon RX 590 vs GeForce GTX 260

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon RX 590, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 260
2008
896 MB GDDR3, 182 Watt
3.15

RX 590 outperforms GTX 260 by a whopping 674% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking751229
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.1625.04
Power efficiency1.199.55
ArchitectureTesla 2.0 (2007−2013)GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code nameGT200Polaris 30
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date16 June 2008 (16 years ago)15 November 2018 (6 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$449 $279

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 590 has 15550% better value for money than GTX 260.

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 cores1922304
Core clock speed576 MHz1469 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1545 MHz
Number of transistors1,400 million5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)182 Watt175 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate36.86222.5
Floating-point processing power0.4769 TFLOPS7.119 TFLOPS
ROPs2832
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).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length267 mm241 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (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 amount896 MB8 GB
Memory bus width448 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed999 MHz2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth111.9 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 ConnectorsDual Link DVIHDTV1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI++
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.

GTX 260 3.15
RX 590 24.38
+674%

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.

GTX 260 1215
RX 590 9393
+673%

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 HD12−14
−742%
101
+742%
1440p7−8
−729%
58
+729%
4K4−5
−775%
35
+775%

Cost per frame, $

1080p37.422.76
1440p64.144.81
4K112.257.97

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 GTX 260 and RX 590 compete in popular games:

  • RX 590 is 742% faster in 1080p
  • RX 590 is 729% faster in 1440p
  • RX 590 is 775% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.15 24.38
Recency 16 June 2008 15 November 2018
Maximum RAM amount 896 MB 8 GB
Chip lithography 65 nm 12 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 182 Watt 175 Watt

RX 590 has a 674% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 814.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 441.7% more advanced lithography process, and 4% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 590 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 260 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 GTX 260
GeForce GTX 260
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.


3.8 606 votes

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4.1 2497 votes

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Questions & comments

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