Radeon RX 6950 XT vs R9 290

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 290 and Radeon RX 6950 XT, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 290
2013
4 GB GDDR5, 275 Watt
21.00

RX 6950 XT outperforms R9 290 by a whopping 248% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking26217
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation8.0227.15
Power efficiency5.2414.94
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code nameHawaiiNavi 21
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date5 November 2013 (11 years ago)10 May 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$399 $1,099

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6950 XT has 239% 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 cores25605120
Core clock speed947 MHz1925 MHz
Boost clock speedno data2324 MHz
Number of transistors6,200 million26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)275 Watt335 Watt
Texture fill rate151.5743.7
Floating-point processing power4.849 TFLOPS23.8 TFLOPS
ROPs64128
TMUs160320
Ray Tracing Coresno data80

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).

InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length275 mm267 mm
Width2-slot3-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin2x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount4 GB16 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz2250 MHz
Memory bandwidth320.0 GB/s576.0 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 DisplayPort1x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a
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
OpenCL2.02.1
Vulkan1.2.1311.3

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 21.00
RX 6950 XT 73.02
+248%

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 6950 XT 28137
+248%

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 6950 XT 59882
+405%

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
−267%
220
+267%
1440p35−40
−283%
134
+283%
4K21−24
−295%
83
+295%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.655.00
1440p11.408.20
4K19.0013.24

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 161
+0%
161
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Battlefield 5 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 143
+0%
143
+0%
Far Cry 5 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 180−190
+0%
180−190
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 240−250
+0%
240−250
+0%
Hitman 3 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 260−270
+0%
260−270
+0%
Metro Exodus 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 300−350
+0%
300−350
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Battlefield 5 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 128
+0%
128
+0%
Far Cry 5 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 180−190
+0%
180−190
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 240−250
+0%
240−250
+0%
Hitman 3 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 260−270
+0%
260−270
+0%
Metro Exodus 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 442
+0%
442
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 122
+0%
122
+0%
Far Cry 5 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 240−250
+0%
240−250
+0%
Hitman 3 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 318
+0%
318
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 396
+0%
396
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 216
+0%
216
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 107
+0%
107
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 160−170
+0%
160−170
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 93
+0%
93
+0%
Far Cry 5 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 270−280
+0%
270−280
+0%
Hitman 3 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 255
+0%
255
+0%
Metro Exodus 132
+0%
132
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 294
+0%
294
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 240−250
+0%
240−250
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Hitman 3 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 220−230
+0%
220−230
+0%
Metro Exodus 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 144
+0%
144
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 46
+0%
46
+0%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 172
+0%
172
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65
+0%
65
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%

This is how R9 290 and RX 6950 XT compete in popular games:

  • RX 6950 XT is 267% faster in 1080p
  • RX 6950 XT is 283% faster in 1440p
  • RX 6950 XT is 295% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 21.00 73.02
Recency 5 November 2013 10 May 2022
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 16 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 275 Watt 335 Watt

R9 290 has 21.8% lower power consumption.

RX 6950 XT, on the other hand, has a 247.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 300% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6950 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.

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AMD Radeon R9 290
Radeon R9 290
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT
Radeon RX 6950 XT

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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3.5 2724 votes

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Questions & comments

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