AMD Radeon RX 470
vs
AMD Radeon R9 290

AMD Radeon RX 470
AMD Radeon R9 290
RX 470 R9 290 Difference
AMD Radeon RX 470 AMD Radeon R9 290
Price $ 342.0 $ 310.0 32 (9%)
Year 2016 2013 3 (0%)
Maximum Recorded Temperature 75C 94C 19 (25%)
Max Fan Noise 49.4dB 60.1dB 10.7 (22%)
Recommended Power Supply 470W 625W 155 (33%)
Benchmark CPU Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4.00GHz ($334.99) Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz ($248.98)
CPU Impact on FPS +0.0 FPS +0.0 FPS 0 (0%)
CPU Impact on FPS % 0.0% 0.0% 0 (0%)
Benchmark Quality Settings Ultra Quality Settings Ultra Quality Settings
Average 1080p Performance 56.4 FPS 62.8 FPS 6.4 (11%)
Average 1440p Performance 41.1 FPS 45.2 FPS 4.1 (10%)
Average 4K Performance 24.3 FPS 29.1 FPS 4.8 (20%)
Memory 4 GB 4 GB 0 (0%)
1080p Cost Per Frame $ 3.2 $ 6.4 3.2 (100%)
1440p Cost Per Frame $ 4.4 $ 8.8 4.4 (100%)
4K Cost Per Frame $ 7.4 $ 13.7 6.3 (85%)
Overall Combination Score 69/100 64/100 5 (7%)
Our Verdict: Upgrading from RX 470 to R9 290 is not recommended as it is less than 30% of improvement in performance. In general, a reasonable upgrade is between 30% and 50% or more to justify the purchase of new hardware. The price/performance ratio is much better for R9 290 .
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Game Performance at selected quality settings

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1920x1080

AMD Radeon RX 470
AMD Radeon R9 290
Year Game Frames Per Second
2019 Apex Legends
48
54.0
48
54.0
2019 Anthem
31
34.8
31
34.8
2019 Far Cry New Dawn
45
51.0
45
51.0
2019 Resident Evil 2
58
65.4
59
66.4
2019 Metro Exodus
26
29.2
26
29.6
2019 World War Z
69
77.0
59
66.0
2018 Forza Horizon 4
40
45.0
47
53.0
2018 Fallout 76
46
52.0
54
61.0
2018 Hitman 2
36
41.0
43
48.0
2018 Just Cause 4
37
42.1
38
42.7
2018 Monster Hunter: World
40
45.4
41
46.0
2017 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
36
41.0
38
43.0
2017 Fortnite Battle Royale
40
45.5
47
53.2
2017 Need For Speed: Payback
52
58.3
53
59.1
2017 For Honor
70
77.8
70
78.8
2017 Project CARS 2
49
55.1
50
55.8
2017 Forza Motorsport 7
60
66.7
60
67.7
2016 Ashes of the Singularity
37
41.7
40
44.8
2016 Hitman
66
73.8
59
66.6
2016 Rise of the Tomb Raider
56
63.1
52
58.5
2016 The Division
49
54.5
43
48.2
2016 Overwatch
63
70.7
74
82.6
2016 Dishonored 2
36
40.2
36
40.7
2015 DiRT Rally
77
86.1
89
99.0
2015 Grand Theft Auto V
42
47.7
45
50.7
2015 The Witcher 3
42
47.6
42
47.0
2015 Rocket League
204
226.8
207
230.0
2015 Need For Speed
56
62.9
57
63.7
2015 Project CARS
54
60.3
54
61.1
2015 Rainbow Six Siege
99
110.2
100
111.7
2013 Crysis 3
48
54.2
50
56.5
2013 Battlefield 4
57
63.5
66
73.7
2012 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
139
155.5
141
157.7
2009 League of Legends
262
291.6
266
295.7

2560x1440

AMD Radeon RX 470
AMD Radeon R9 290
Year Game Frames Per Second
2019 Apex Legends
32
40.2
32
40.2
2019 Anthem
22
27.6
22
27.6
2019 Far Cry New Dawn
31
39.6
31
39.6
2019 Resident Evil 2
35
44.1
35
44.7
2019 Metro Exodus
18
22.7
18
23.0
2019 World War Z
44
56.2
38
48.2
2018 Forza Horizon 4
30
38.0
36
45.0
2018 Hitman 2
21
27.0
24
31.0
2018 Just Cause 4
24
31.1
25
31.5
2018 Monster Hunter: World
25
31.8
25
32.2
2017 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
24
31.0
26
33.0
2017 Fortnite Battle Royale
23
29.4
27
34.3
2017 Need For Speed: Payback
33
42.1
34
42.7
2017 For Honor
36
45.4
36
46.0
2017 Project CARS 2
31
38.9
31
39.4
2017 Forza Motorsport 7
48
60.3
48
61.1
2016 Ashes of the Singularity
31
39.0
33
41.3
2016 Hitman
42
53.1
40
50.6
2016 Rise of the Tomb Raider
34
43.1
33
41.8
2016 The Division
32
40.0
29
37.1
2016 Overwatch
39
49.0
45
56.7
2016 Dishonored 2
27
34.3
27
34.8
2015 DiRT Rally
47
59.9
55
69.9
2015 Grand Theft Auto V
26
32.6
28
35.9
2015 The Witcher 3
28
35.3
29
36.3
2015 Rocket League
77
97.2
78
98.6
2015 Need For Speed
38
48.6
39
49.3
2015 Project CARS
36
46.0
37
46.6
2015 Rainbow Six Siege
57
71.3
57
72.3
2013 Crysis 3
26
32.9
29
36.7
2013 Battlefield 4
32
41.2
39
49.6
2012 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
103
129.6
105
131.4
2009 League of Legends
129
162.0
131
164.2

3840x2160

AMD Radeon RX 470
AMD Radeon R9 290
Year Game Frames Per Second
2019 Apex Legends
16
24.0
16
24.0
2019 Anthem
10
15.0
10
15.0
2019 Far Cry New Dawn
14
21.0
14
21.0
2019 Resident Evil 2
15
21.7
15
22.0
2019 Metro Exodus
10
14.3
10
14.5
2019 World War Z
22
32.3
19
27.7
2018 Forza Horizon 4
17
25.0
21
30.0
2018 Hitman 2
11
16.0
12
18.0
2018 Just Cause 4
11
16.2
11
16.4
2018 Monster Hunter: World
10
15.2
10
15.4
2017 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
12
18.0
13
19.0
2017 Fortnite Battle Royale
11
16.1
13
18.9
2017 Need For Speed: Payback
20
29.2
20
29.6
2017 For Honor
15
22.7
16
23.0
2017 Project CARS 2
22
32.4
23
32.9
2017 Forza Motorsport 7
35
50.5
35
51.2
2016 Overwatch
17
25.2
20
29.4
2016 Dishonored 2
19
27.2
19
27.6
2015 Rocket League
31
45.4
32
46.0
2015 Need For Speed
22
32.4
23
32.9
2015 Project CARS
22
32.4
23
32.9
2015 Rainbow Six Siege
23
33.0
23
33.5
2012 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
81
116.6
82
118.3
2009 League of Legends
45
64.8
45
65.7
RX 470 vs R9 290 with i7-6700K vs i7-3770K at 1080p and ultra vs ultra settings
RX 470 vs R9 290 with i7-6700K vs i7-3770K at 1440p and ultra vs ultra settings
RX 470 vs R9 290 with i7-6700K vs i7-3770K at 4K and ultra vs ultra settings

AMD Radeon RX 470 / i7-6700K

For the most part, the RX 470 is still capable of playing modern games, but you would have to reduce settings to sustain those higher framerates. If keeping graphics quality settings closer to ultra or high is important, there are a few options for upgrades. With current 4096 MB RAM, the RX 470 can have very few memory-related bottlenecks in more modern games.
View Current Price List

AMD Radeon R9 290 / i7-3770K

It is worth noting that the R9 290 is a very power hungry card and requires a decent power supply unit. It is important to know that R9 290 's max load temperature is very high and might require custom cooling solutions. This combination between R9 290 and Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz has less than 8% bottleneck in many games and is perfect match to avoid FPS loss. This combination between R9 290 and Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz is a perfect match to avoid FPS loss. With current 4096 MB RAM, the R9 290 can have very few memory-related bottlenecks in more modern games.
View Current Price List

RX 470 vs R9 290 Specifications Comparison

Board Design

RX 470 R9 290
Board NumberC940, D000-03, D009-07C671
Length9.5 inches 241 mm10.83 inches 275 mm
Outputs1x HDMI3x DisplayPort2x DVI1x HDMI1x DisplayPort
Power Connectors1x 6-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Slot WidthDual-slotDual-slot
TDP120 W275 W

Clock Speeds

RX 470 R9 290
GPU Clock926 MHz947 MHz
Memory Clock1650 MHz 6600 MHz effective1250 MHz 5000 MHz effective

Graphics Card

RX 470 R9 290
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
GenerationArctic Islands (RX 400)Volcanic Islands (R9 200)
Launch Price179 USD399 USD
ProductionActiveEnd-of-life
Release DateAug 4th, 2016Nov 5th, 2013

Graphics Features

RX 470 R9 290
DirectX12.0 (12_0)12.0 (12_0)
OpenCL22
OpenGL4.54.6
Shader Model66
Vulkan1.1.821.1.82

Graphics Processor

RX 470 R9 290
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 2.0
Die Size244 mm²438 mm²
GPU NameEllesmereHawaii
GPU VariantPolaris 10 PRO (215-0876204)Hawaii PRO (215-0852020)
Process Size14 nm28 nm
Transistors5,700 million6,200 million

Memory

RX 470 R9 290
Bandwidth211.2 GB/s320.0 GB/s
Memory Bus256 bit512 bit
Memory Size4096 MB4096 MB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5

Render Config

RX 470 R9 290
Compute Units3240
ROPs3264
Shading Units20482560
TMUs128160

Theoretical Performance

RX 470 R9 290
FP32 (float) performance4,940 GFLOPS4,849 GFLOPS
FP64 (double) performance308.7 GFLOPS (1:16)606.1 GFLOPS (1:8)
Pixel Rate38.59 GPixel/s60.61 GPixel/s
Texture Rate154.4 GTexel/s151.5 GTexel/s
What to Consider Before Buying a Graphics Card

What to Consider Before Buying a Graphics Card

If you have been planning to upgrade your system by purchasing a new graphics card. Then there are some important factors to consider.
Resolution VS Quality: Impact on Game Performance

Resolution VS Quality: Impact on Game Performance

What affects game performance? Clarity or Details?

Ultra VS High Quality Settings in PC Games

Ultra VS High Quality Settings in PC Games

Every player has a different notion about the ideal setting for PC games. But in most cases, opting for a High quality graphics configuration is the way to go.

What are CPU or GPU Bottlenecks?

What are CPU or GPU Bottlenecks?

Are you getting sudden frame drops? you might have a bottleneck.
What is the acceptable FPS speed for me?

What is the acceptable FPS speed for me?

For some games, you can still enjoy great garphics at lower frame rates.

Discussion and Comments

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