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GPU Comparison

Side-by-side comparison of specifications and performance

Performance Comparison

AMD Radeon HD 7970

81%
81%

AMD Radeon R9 290

151%
151%
AMD Radeon R9 290 is approximately 70% faster

Technical Specifications

SpecificationAMD Radeon HD 7970AMD Radeon R9 290
Graphics ProcessorDifferent
Tahiti
Hawaii
CoresDifferent
2048
2560
TMUsDifferent
128
160
ROPsDifferent
32
64
Memory SizeDifferent
3 GB
4 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Bus WidthDifferent
384 bit
512 bit

Graphics Processor

FeatureAMD Radeon HD 7970AMD Radeon R9 290
GPU NameDifferent
Tahiti
Hawaii
GPU VariantDifferent
Tahiti XT(215-0821060)
Hawaii PRO(215-0852020)
ArchitectureDifferent
GCN 1.0
GCN 2.0
Foundry
TSMC
TSMC
Process Size
28 nm
28 nm
TransistorsDifferent
4,313 million
6,200 million
DensityDifferent
12.3M / mm²
14.2M / mm²
Die SizeDifferent
352 mm²
438 mm²

Graphics Card

FeatureAMD Radeon HD 7970AMD Radeon R9 290
Release DateDifferent
Jan 9th, 2012
Nov 5th, 2013
AnnouncedDifferent
Dec 22nd, 2011
N/A
GenerationDifferent
Southern Islands(HD 7900)
Volcanic Islands(R9 200)
PredecessorDifferent
Northern Islands
Sea Islands
SuccessorDifferent
Sea Islands
Pirate Islands
Production
End-of-life
End-of-life
Launch PriceDifferent
549 USD
399 USD
Bus Interface
PCIe 3.0 x16
PCIe 3.0 x16
ReviewsDifferent
191 in our database
69 in our database

Clock Speeds

FeatureAMD Radeon HD 7970AMD Radeon R9 290
GPU ClockDifferent
925 MHz
947 MHz
Memory ClockDifferent
1375 MHz5.5 Gbps effective
1250 MHz5 Gbps effective

Memory

FeatureAMD Radeon HD 7970AMD Radeon R9 290
Memory SizeDifferent
3 GB
4 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Memory BusDifferent
384 bit
512 bit
BandwidthDifferent
264.0 GB/s
320.0 GB/s

Render Config

FeatureAMD Radeon HD 7970AMD Radeon R9 290
Shading UnitsDifferent
2048
2560
TMUsDifferent
128
160
ROPsDifferent
32
64
Compute UnitsDifferent
32
40
L1 Cache
16 KB (per CU)
16 KB (per CU)
L2 CacheDifferent
768 KB
1024 KB

Theoretical Performance

FeatureAMD Radeon HD 7970AMD Radeon R9 290
Pixel RateDifferent
29.60 GPixel/s
60.61 GPixel/s
Texture RateDifferent
118.4 GTexel/s
151.5 GTexel/s
FP32 (float)Different
3.789 TFLOPS
4.849 TFLOPS
FP64 (double)Different
947.2 GFLOPS (1:4)
606.1 GFLOPS (1:8)

Board Design

FeatureAMD Radeon HD 7970AMD Radeon R9 290
Slot Width
Dual-slot
Dual-slot
Length
275 mm10.8 inches
275 mm10.8 inches
HeightDifferent
111 mm4.4 inches
109 mm4.3 inches
WidthDifferent
38 mm1.5 inches
36 mm1.4 inches
TDPDifferent
250 W
275 W
Suggested PSU
600 W
600 W
OutputsDifferent
1x DVI1x HDMI 1.4a2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2
2x DVI1x HDMI 1.4a1x DisplayPort 1.2
Power Connectors
1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Board NumberDifferent
109-C38637-00
109-C67157-00_02

Graphics Features

FeatureAMD Radeon HD 7970AMD Radeon R9 290
DirectXDifferent
12 (11_1)
12 (12_0)
OpenGL
4.6
4.6
OpenCLDifferent
2.1 (1.2)
2.1
Vulkan
1.2.170
1.2.170
Shader ModelDifferent
6.5 (5.1)
6.5

Comparison Summary

7
Specifications Compared
8
Feature Categories
47
Detailed Features

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