Radeon RX 7900M vs R9 M290X

Place in the ranking	498	37
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	5.89	22.85
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	RDNA 3.0 (2022−2024)
GPU code name	Neptune	Navi 31
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	9 January 2014 (10 years ago)	19 October 2023 (1 year ago)

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	1280	4608
Compute units	20	no data
Core clock speed	850 MHz	1825 MHz
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	2090 MHz
Number of transistors	2,800 million	57,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	180 Watt
Texture fill rate	72.00	601.9
Floating-point processing power	2.304 TFLOPS	38.52 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	192
TMUs	80	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).

Laptop size	large	large
Bus support	PCIe 3.0 x16	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors	None	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	16 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1200 MHz	2250 MHz
Memory bandwidth	153.6 GB/s	576.0 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	No outputs	Portable Device Dependent
Eyefinity	+	-

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync	+	-
HD3D	+	-
PowerTune	+	-
DualGraphics	+	-
ZeroCore	+	-
Switchable graphics	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 11	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.1	6.7
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	Not Listed	2.2
Vulkan	-	1.3
Mantle	+	-

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 M290X 8.44

RX 7900M 58.98
+599%

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 M290X 3256

RX 7900M 22751
+599%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

R9 M290X 6817

RX 7900M 59943
+779%

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 M290X 5294

RX 7900M 50241
+849%

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	46 −254%	163 +254%
1440p	16−18 −675%	124 +675%
4K	12−14 −658%	91 +658%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

12−14

−592%

90−95
+592%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −467%	110−120 +467%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 −733%	100−105 +733%
Battlefield 5	24−27 −600%	180−190 +600%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	16−18 −535%	100−110 +535%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −592%	90−95 +592%
Far Cry 5	18−20 −474%	100−110 +474%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 −475%	130−140 +475%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 −300%	220−230 +300%
Hitman 3	16−18 −638%	110−120 +638%
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50 −354%	210−220 +354%
Metro Exodus	24−27 −488%	150−160 +488%
Red Dead Redemption 2	21−24 −396%	110−120 +396%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 −718%	220−230 +718%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 −153%	140−150 +153%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −467%	110−120 +467%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 −733%	100−105 +733%
Battlefield 5	24−27 −600%	180−190 +600%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	16−18 −535%	100−110 +535%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −592%	90−95 +592%
Far Cry 5	18−20 −474%	100−110 +474%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 −475%	130−140 +475%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 −300%	220−230 +300%
Hitman 3	16−18 −638%	110−120 +638%
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50 −354%	210−220 +354%
Metro Exodus	24−27 −488%	150−160 +488%
Red Dead Redemption 2	21−24 −396%	110−120 +396%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 −718%	220−230 +718%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 −396%	110−120 +396%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 −153%	140−150 +153%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −467%	110−120 +467%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 −733%	100−105 +733%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	16−18 −535%	100−110 +535%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −592%	90−95 +592%
Far Cry 5	18−20 −474%	100−110 +474%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 −300%	220−230 +300%
Hitman 3	16−18 −638%	110−120 +638%
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50 −354%	210−220 +354%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 −1129%	344 +1129%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 −600%	168 +600%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 −153%	140−150 +153%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

21−24

−396%

110−120
+396%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	16−18 −669%	120−130 +669%
Far Cry New Dawn	12−14 −585%	85−90 +585%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 −713%	65−70 +713%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5 −1625%	65−70 +1625%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −750%	65−70 +750%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −575%	27−30 +575%
Far Cry 5	10−11 −570%	65−70 +570%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 −694%	270−280 +694%
Hitman 3	12−14 −575%	80−85 +575%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 −656%	130−140 +656%
Metro Exodus	10−12 −809%	100−105 +809%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	9−10 −2667%	249 +2667%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	8−9 −1100%	95−100 +1100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	50−55 −324%	220−230 +324%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16

−600%

95−100
+600%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	8−9 −700%	60−65 +700%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 −800%	50−55 +800%
Hitman 3	5−6 −860%	45−50 +860%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 −581%	210−220 +581%
Metro Exodus	6−7 −1283%	80−85 +1283%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 −2220%	116 +2220%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −780%	40−45 +780%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5 −950%	40−45 +950%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −925%	40−45 +925%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −500%	6−7 +500%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −850%	35−40 +850%
Forza Horizon 4	10−11 −780%	85−90 +780%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	4−5 −3175%	131 +3175%
Watch Dogs: Legion	3−4 −1000%	30−35 +1000%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

8−9

−600%

55−60
+600%

This is how R9 M290X and RX 7900M compete in popular games:

RX 7900M is 254% faster in 1080p
RX 7900M is 675% faster in 1440p
RX 7900M is 658% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 7900M is 3175% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, RX 7900M surpassed R9 M290X in all 66 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	8.44	58.98
Recency	9 January 2014	19 October 2023
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	180 Watt

R9 M290X has 80% lower power consumption.

RX 7900M, on the other hand, has a 598.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 7900M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 M290X in performance tests.

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