GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile vs Radeon R9 290

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 290 with GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, including specs and performance data.

R9 290
2013
4 GB GDDR5, 275 Watt
21.00

RTX 3060 Mobile outperforms R9 290 by an impressive 55% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking262168
Place by popularitynot in top-10069
Cost-effectiveness evaluation8.02no data
Power efficiency5.2427.91
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameHawaiiGA106
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date5 November 2013 (11 years ago)12 January 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$399 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores25603840
Core clock speed947 MHz900 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1425 MHz
Number of transistors6,200 million13,250 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)275 Watt80 Watt
Texture fill rate151.5171.0
Floating-point processing power4.849 TFLOPS10.94 TFLOPS
ROPs6448
TMUs160120
Tensor Coresno data120
Ray Tracing Coresno data30

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
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length275 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pinno data

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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount4 GB6 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth320.0 GB/s336.0 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPortNo outputs
HDMI+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_0)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model6.36.5
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL2.02.0
Vulkan1.2.1311.2
CUDA-8.6

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.

R9 290 21.00
RTX 3060 Mobile 32.57
+55.1%

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.

R9 290 8093
RTX 3060 Mobile 12550
+55.1%

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.

R9 290 11860
RTX 3060 Mobile 20609
+73.8%

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 HD60−65
−63.3%
98
+63.3%
1440p40−45
−65%
66
+65%
4K24−27
−66.7%
40
+66.7%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.65no data
1440p9.98no data
4K16.63no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 103
+0%
103
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 76
+0%
76
+0%
Battlefield 5 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 86
+0%
86
+0%
Far Cry 5 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Hitman 3 106
+0%
106
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Metro Exodus 164
+0%
164
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 64
+0%
64
+0%
Battlefield 5 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 69
+0%
69
+0%
Far Cry 5 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Hitman 3 108
+0%
108
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 189
+0%
189
+0%
Metro Exodus 129
+0%
129
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 102
+0%
102
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 158
+0%
158
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 158
+0%
158
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 56
+0%
56
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 62
+0%
62
+0%
Far Cry 5 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Hitman 3 96
+0%
96
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 120
+0%
120
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 140
+0%
140
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 78
+0%
78
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 46
+0%
46
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 96
+0%
96
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 48
+0%
48
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 39
+0%
39
+0%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 180−190
+0%
180−190
+0%
Hitman 3 64
+0%
64
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 85
+0%
85
+0%
Metro Exodus 85
+0%
85
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 101
+0%
101
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 116
+0%
116
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 80
+0%
80
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hitman 3 41
+0%
41
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 160−170
+0%
160−170
+0%
Metro Exodus 60
+0%
60
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 55
+0%
55
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 11
+0%
11
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 15
+0%
15
+0%
Far Cry 5 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 60
+0%
60
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 19
+0%
19
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 44
+0%
44
+0%

This is how R9 290 and RTX 3060 Mobile compete in popular games:

  • RTX 3060 Mobile is 63% faster in 1080p
  • RTX 3060 Mobile is 65% faster in 1440p
  • RTX 3060 Mobile is 67% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 21.00 32.57
Recency 5 November 2013 12 January 2021
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 6 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 275 Watt 80 Watt

RTX 3060 Mobile has a 55.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 243.8% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 290 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon R9 290 is a desktop card while GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile is a notebook one.


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

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AMD Radeon R9 290
Radeon R9 290
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile
GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile

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.


4.2 558 votes

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4.1 5024 votes

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Questions & comments

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