Radeon RX 6800 XT vs R9 290

Place in the ranking	265	28
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	7.94	49.92
Power efficiency	5.27	14.92
Architecture	GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Hawaii	Navi 21
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	5 November 2013 (11 years ago)	28 October 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$399	$649

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6800 XT has 529% better value for money than R9 290.

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	4608
Core clock speed	947 MHz	1825 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2250 MHz
Number of transistors	6,200 million	26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	275 Watt	300 Watt
Texture fill rate	151.5	648.0
Floating-point processing power	4.849 TFLOPS	20.74 TFLOPS
ROPs	64	128
TMUs	160	288
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	72

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 4.0 x16
Length	275 mm	267 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	2x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	16 GB
Memory bus width	512 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1250 MHz	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	320.0 GB/s	512.0 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 Connectors	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
HDMI	+	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.3	6.5
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	2.1
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.2

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 21.05

RX 6800 XT 65.04
+209%

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

RX 6800 XT 25003
+209%

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

RX 6800 XT 49735
+319%

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 HD	65−70 −212%	203 +212%
1440p	45−50 −222%	145 +222%
4K	30−35 −233%	100 +233%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	6.14 −92%	3.20 +92%
1440p	8.87 −98.1%	4.48 +98.1%
4K	13.30 −105%	6.49 +105%

RX 6800 XT has 92% lower cost per frame in 1080p
RX 6800 XT has 98% lower cost per frame in 1440p
RX 6800 XT has 105% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Elden Ring	240−250 +0%	240−250 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	404 +0%	404 +0%
Metro Exodus	127 +0%	127 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	122 +0%	122 +0%
Valorant	401 +0%	401 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Dota 2	155 +0%	155 +0%
Elden Ring	240−250 +0%	240−250 +0%
Far Cry 5	58 +0%	58 +0%
Fortnite	250−260 +0%	250−260 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	355 +0%	355 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	150 +0%	150 +0%
Metro Exodus	120 +0%	120 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	129 +0%	129 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Valorant	173 +0%	173 +0%
World of Tanks	270−280 +0%	270−280 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Dota 2	145 +0%	145 +0%
Far Cry 5	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	302 +0%	302 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Valorant	356 +0%	356 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	120 +0%	120 +0%
Elden Ring	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	120 +0%	120 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	83 +0%	83 +0%
World of Tanks	400−450 +0%	400−450 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Far Cry 5	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	222 +0%	222 +0%
Metro Exodus	112 +0%	112 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Valorant	278 +0%	278 +0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Dota 2	134 +0%	134 +0%
Elden Ring	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	134 +0%	134 +0%
Metro Exodus	56 +0%	56 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	200−210 +0%	200−210 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	53 +0%	53 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	134 +0%	134 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Dota 2	122 +0%	122 +0%
Far Cry 5	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Fortnite	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	133 +0%	133 +0%
Valorant	153 +0%	153 +0%

This is how R9 290 and RX 6800 XT compete in popular games:

RX 6800 XT is 212% faster in 1080p
RX 6800 XT is 222% faster in 1440p
RX 6800 XT is 233% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	21.05	65.04
Recency	5 November 2013	28 October 2020
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	275 Watt	300 Watt

R9 290 has 9.1% lower power consumption.

RX 6800 XT, on the other hand, has a 209% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 300% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6800 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 290 in performance tests.

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