GeForce GTX 970 vs Radeon R9 390

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 390 and GeForce GTX 970, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 390
2015
0 MB GDDR5, 275 Watt
23.11

GTX 970 outperforms R9 390 by a small 8% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking243215
Place by popularitynot in top-10057
Cost-effectiveness evaluation11.7813.79
Power efficiency5.7611.58
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)
GPU code nameGrenadaGM204
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date18 June 2015 (9 years ago)19 September 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$329 $329

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 970 has 17% better value for money than R9 390.

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 cores25601664
Core clock speedno data1050 MHz
Boost clock speed1000 MHz1178 MHz
Number of transistors6,200 million5,200 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)275 Watt148 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data98 °C
Texture fill rate160.0122.5
Floating-point processing power5.12 TFLOPS3.92 TFLOPS
ROPs6456
TMUs160104

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).

Bus supportPCIe 3.0PCI Express 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length275 mm267 mm
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)no data500 Watt
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin, 1 x 8-pin2x 6-pin
SLI options-+
Bridgeless CrossFire+-

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
High bandwidth memory (HBM)-no data
Maximum RAM amount0 MB4 GB
Memory bus width512 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1000 MHz7.0 GB/s
Memory bandwidth384 GB/s224 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 DisplayPortDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Multi monitor supportno data4 displays
Eyefinity+-
Number of Eyefinity displays6no data
HDMI++
HDCP-+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
DisplayPort support+-
G-SYNC support-+
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
PowerTune+-
TrueAudio+-
VCE+-
DDMA audio+no data
GameStream-+
GeForce ShadowPlay-+
GPU Boostno data2.0
GameWorks-+

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1212 (12_1)
Shader Model6.36.4
OpenGL4.64.4
OpenCL2.01.2
Vulkan+1.1.126
Mantle+-
CUDA-+

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 390 23.11
GTX 970 25.01
+8.2%

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 390 8904
GTX 970 9636
+8.2%

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 390 12730
+6.5%
GTX 970 11954

Unigine Heaven 4.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark, a newer version of Unigine 3.0 with relatively small differences. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. The benchmark is still sometimes used, despite its significant age, as it was released back in 2013.

R9 390 1520
GTX 970 1543
+1.5%

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 HD70−75
−14.3%
80
+14.3%
1440p40−45
−12.5%
45
+12.5%
4K35−40
−8.6%
38
+8.6%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.704.11
1440p8.237.31
4K9.408.66

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Hitman 3 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Metro Exodus 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 52
+0%
52
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 29
+0%
29
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Hitman 3 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Metro Exodus 35
+0%
35
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 109
+0%
109
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 36
+0%
36
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Hitman 3 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 43
+0%
43
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Hitman 3 30−33
+0%
30−33
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 20
+0%
20
+0%
Hitman 3 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Metro Exodus 23
+0%
23
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 29
+0%
29
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry 5 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
+0%
30−33
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

This is how R9 390 and GTX 970 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 970 is 14% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 970 is 13% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 970 is 9% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 23.11 25.01
Recency 18 June 2015 19 September 2014
Power consumption (TDP) 275 Watt 148 Watt

R9 390 has an age advantage of 8 months.

GTX 970, on the other hand, has a 8.2% higher aggregate performance score, and 85.8% lower power consumption.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Radeon R9 390 and GeForce GTX 970.


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 390
Radeon R9 390
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce GTX 970

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.


4.2 567 votes

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4.2 4836 votes

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Questions & comments

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