Radeon RX 6800M vs R9 290

Place in the ranking	262	150
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	8.02	no data
Power efficiency	5.24	16.30
Architecture	GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Hawaii	Navi 22
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	5 November 2013 (11 years ago)	31 May 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 cores	2560	2560
Core clock speed	947 MHz	2116 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2390 MHz
Number of transistors	6,200 million	17,200 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	275 Watt	145 Watt
Texture fill rate	151.5	382.4
Floating-point processing power	4.849 TFLOPS	12.24 TFLOPS
ROPs	64	64
TMUs	160	160
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	40

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 size	no data	large
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	275 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	None

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	12 GB
Memory bus width	512 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	1250 MHz	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	320.0 GB/s	384.0 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	No outputs
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	1.3

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 21.01

RX 6800M 34.49
+64.2%

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 6800M 13286
+64.2%

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 6800M 34199
+188%

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 −67.7%	109 +67.7%
1440p	40−45 −80%	72 +80%
4K	24−27 −83.3%	44 +83.3%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	6.14	no data
1440p	9.98	no data
4K	16.63	no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

123

+0%

123

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	109 +0%	109 +0%
Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	110 +0%	110 +0%
Far Cry 5	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Hitman 3	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Metro Exodus	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	98 +0%	98 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	90 +0%	90 +0%
Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	102 +0%	102 +0%
Far Cry 5	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Hitman 3	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Metro Exodus	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	83 +0%	83 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	211 +0%	211 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	78 +0%	78 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	98 +0%	98 +0%
Far Cry 5	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Hitman 3	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	172 +0%	172 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	180 +0%	180 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	109 +0%	109 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	69 +0%	69 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +0%	65−70 +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	63 +0%	63 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	51 +0%	51 +0%
Far Cry 5	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	190−200 +0%	190−200 +0%
Hitman 3	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	127 +0%	127 +0%
Metro Exodus	83 +0%	83 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	145 +0%	145 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Hitman 3	56 +0%	56 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Metro Exodus	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	60 +0%	60 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	38 +0%	38 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	23 +0%	23 +0%
Far Cry 5	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	77 +0%	77 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	33 +0%	33 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

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

RX 6800M is 68% faster in 1080p
RX 6800M is 80% faster in 1440p
RX 6800M is 83% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	21.01	34.49
Recency	5 November 2013	31 May 2021
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	12 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	275 Watt	145 Watt

RX 6800M has a 64.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 300% more advanced lithography process, and 89.7% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 6800M 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 Radeon RX 6800M is a notebook one.

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