Radeon R9 290X vs GeForce GTX TITAN Z

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX TITAN Z and Radeon R9 290X, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX TITAN Z
2014
12 GB GDDR5, 375 Watt
23.11
+19.9%

GTX TITAN Z outperforms R9 290X by a significant 20% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking242290
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data4.91
Power efficiency4.224.56
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)
GPU code nameGK110BHawaii
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designno datareference
Release date28 May 2014 (10 years ago)24 October 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$2,999 $549

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX TITAN Z and R9 290X have a nearly equal value for money.

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 cores57602816
Core clock speed705 MHzno data
Boost clock speed876 MHz947 MHz
Number of transistors7,080 million6,200 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)375 Watt250 Watt
Texture fill rate210.2176.0
Floating-point processing power5.046 TFLOPS5.632 TFLOPS
ROPs4864
TMUs240176

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 Express 3.0PCIe 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length267 mm275 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width3-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 8-pin1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount12 GB4 GB
Memory bus width768-bit (384-bit per GPU)512 Bit
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/s1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth672 GB/s320 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 ConnectorsOne Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
Eyefinity-+
HDMI++
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
DisplayPort support-+
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration-+
CrossFire-+
FreeSync-+
HD3D-+
LiquidVR-+
TressFX-+
TrueAudio-+
UVD-+
DDMA audiono data+
Blu Ray 3D+-
3D Gaming+-
3D Vision+-
3D Vision Live+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)DirectX® 12
Shader Model5.16.3
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.22.0
Vulkan1.1.126+
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 TITAN Z 23.11
+19.9%
R9 290X 19.27

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 TITAN Z 8904
+19.9%
R9 290X 7425

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX TITAN Z 17130
+46.2%
R9 290X 11717

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 HD100−110
+16.3%
86
−16.3%
4K55−60
+12.2%
49
−12.2%

Cost per frame, $

1080p29.996.38
4K54.5311.20

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+0%
30−33
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Battlefield 5 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+0%
30−33
+0%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Hitman 3 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Metro Exodus 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Battlefield 5 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+0%
30−33
+0%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Hitman 3 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Metro Exodus 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 137
+0%
137
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+0%
30−33
+0%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Hitman 3 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 29
+0%
29
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Hitman 3 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Metro Exodus 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Hitman 3 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%
Metro Exodus 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 28
+0%
28
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Far Cry 5 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%

This is how GTX TITAN Z and R9 290X compete in popular games:

  • GTX TITAN Z is 16% faster in 1080p
  • GTX TITAN Z is 12% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 23.11 19.27
Recency 28 May 2014 24 October 2013
Maximum RAM amount 12 GB 4 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 375 Watt 250 Watt

GTX TITAN Z has a 19.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 months, and a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount.

R9 290X, on the other hand, has 50% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX TITAN Z is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 290X 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 TITAN Z
GeForce GTX TITAN Z
AMD Radeon R9 290X
Radeon R9 290X

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.


3.2 56 votes

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4.1 454 votes

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.