GeForce GTX 660 OEM vs Radeon R9 290
Aggregate performance score
We've compared Radeon R9 290 and GeForce GTX 660 OEM, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
R9 290 outperforms GTX 660 OEM by a whopping 524% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 259 | 736 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 8.00 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 5.32 | 1.80 |
| Architecture | GCN 2.0 (2013−2017) | Kepler (2012−2018) |
| GPU code name | Hawaii | GK104 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Release date | 5 November 2013 (11 years ago) | 22 August 2012 (12 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $399 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
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 cores | 2560 | 1152 |
| Core clock speed | 947 MHz | 823 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 888 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 6,200 million | 3,540 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 275 Watt | 130 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 151.5 | 85.25 |
| Floating-point processing power | 4.849 TFLOPS | 2.046 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 64 | 32 |
| TMUs | 160 | 96 |
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).
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| Length | 275 mm | 241 mm |
| Width | 2-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | 1x 6-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 type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory bus width | 512 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1250 MHz | 1400 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 320.0 GB/s | 179.2 GB/s |
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 Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort |
| HDMI | + | + |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (12_0) | 12 (11_0) |
| Shader Model | 6.3 | 5.1 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 2.0 | 1.2 |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | 1.1.126 |
| CUDA | - | 3.0 |
Gaming performance
Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 20.98 | 3.36 |
| Recency | 5 November 2013 | 22 August 2012 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 2 GB |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 275 Watt | 130 Watt |
R9 290 has a 524.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.
GTX 660 OEM, on the other hand, has 111.5% lower power consumption.
The Radeon R9 290 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 660 OEM in performance tests.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
