AMD Radeon R9 M290X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Comparison

The AMD Radeon R9 M290X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 represent two vastly different eras of graphics technology, separated by nearly five years of architectural evolution. The data positions the RTX 2080 as the dominant performer in the single available head-to-head benchmark, yet the R9 M290X holds its own as a historical data point with a surprisingly competitive average score relative to its modern rival. This analysis breaks down the benchmark results, architectural differences, and the specific scenarios where each GPU’s legacy matters.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data is unambiguous in its single direct comparison: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 wins the only head-to-head test available, the Geekbench OpenCL workload. The RTX 2080 achieves a score of 91,313, while the AMD Radeon R9 M290X posts 22,028, resulting in a delta of -75.9% for the AMD part. This is a decisive victory for NVIDIA, reflecting a generational leap in compute capability.

However, the R9 M290X does not cede all ground in the broader context of benchmark averages. The AMD card’s average benchmark score is 23,276, which is actually higher than the RTX 2080’s average of 22,895. This counterintuitive result stems from the fact that the R9 M290X’s average is derived from only two Geekbench tests (OpenCL and Metal), while the RTX 2080’s average includes a wider range of workloads, including DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 tests where it scores relatively lower. In the specific realm of OpenCL and Metal compute, the R9 M290X is competitive with its own peers, but it is outclassed by the RTX 2080 in raw compute throughput.

For use-case analysis, the RTX 2080 wins in any scenario requiring modern DirectX 12 Ultimate features, Vulkan 1.4 support, or ray tracing, given its 46 RT cores and 368 Tensor cores. The R9 M290X, with its DirectX 12 (11_1) support and lack of dedicated ray tracing hardware, is relegated to legacy applications and older API workloads. In terms of percentile ranking, both cards sit at the 68th percentile against all GPUs, suggesting that despite the performance gap, they occupy a similar position in the overall distribution of benchmark scores—a statistical quirk driven by the differing test sets.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon R9 M290X has a higher average benchmark score of 23,276, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080’s 22,895. This is despite the RTX 2080 winning the direct head-to-head OpenCL test, because the averages are computed from different benchmark suites.

Q: What is the performance delta in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 scores 91,313, while the AMD Radeon R9 M290X scores 22,028. This gives the RTX 2080 a 75.9% advantage, meaning the AMD card achieves only about 24% of the NVIDIA card’s score.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the AMD Radeon R9 M290X supports an earlier iteration, DirectX 12 (11_1). This difference impacts compatibility with modern game features.

Q: How do the two cards compare in memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 2080 offers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth using 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. The R9 M290X provides 153.6 GB/s with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, also on a 256-bit bus. The RTX 2080’s bandwidth is roughly 2.9 times higher.

Q: Are there any benchmark tests where the AMD card wins?

A: Within the provided head-to-head data, the AMD Radeon R9 M290X wins zero tests, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 wins one. There is no benchmark in the dataset where the AMD card outperforms the RTX 2080.

Q: What are the closest rivals to each GPU based on average score?

A: The R9 M290X’s nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6600M with an average score of 23,273 and a delta of 0%. The RTX 2080’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile with an average score of 22,729 and a delta of 0.7%.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The sole direct comparison between these two GPUs is the Geekbench OpenCL test, and the results are stark. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 produces a score of 91,313, which is more than four times higher than the AMD Radeon R9 M290X’s 22,028. The delta of -75.9% quantifies the magnitude of this gap, indicating that the RTX 2080 is not merely faster, but in a completely different performance class for this compute workload.

This result is consistent with the underlying hardware specifications. The RTX 2080 has 2,944 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, compared to the R9 M290X’s 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The FP32 compute throughput tells a similar story: the RTX 2080 delivers 10.07 TFLOPS versus the R9 M290X’s 2.304 TFLOPS. The pixel rate and texture rate also favor NVIDIA decisively, with 109.4 GPixel/s and 314.6 GTexel/s for the RTX 2080 versus 28.80 GPixel/s and 72.00 GTexel/s for the AMD card.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the RTX 2080’s OpenCL score of 91,313 far exceeds its own average of 22,895, suggesting that OpenCL is a particularly strong workload for this GPU. Conversely, the R9 M290X’s OpenCL score of 22,028 is below its average of 23,276, indicating that its Metal benchmark of 24,524 is its stronger suite. This asymmetry means that the head-to-head result, while decisive, does not fully capture the relative strengths of each card in their most favorable test environments.

Specification Differences

The most fundamental difference lies in memory configuration. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 memory operating at 14 Gbps effective, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The AMD Radeon R9 M290X uses 4 GB of GDDR5 at 4.8 Gbps effective, providing 153.6 GB/s. Both use a 256-bit memory bus, but the newer memory technology gives NVIDIA a 2.9x bandwidth advantage.

Clock speeds also differ substantially. The RTX 2080 has a base clock of 1515 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz, while the R9 M290X operates at 850 MHz base and 900 MHz boost. This nearly 2x difference in clock speed contributes significantly to the performance gap. The process node is another key differentiator: the RTX 2080 is built on a 12 nm process, while the R9 M290X uses 28 nm. This allows the RTX 2080 to pack 13,600 million transistors into a 545 mm² die, compared to 2,800 million transistors in a 212 mm² die for the AMD part. The transistor density is 25.0M / mm² for NVIDIA versus 13.2M / mm² for AMD.

Power consumption and physical design diverge as well. The RTX 2080 has a TDP of 215 W and requires a 550 W suggested PSU, along with 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors. The R9 M290X has a TDP of just 100 W, uses no additional power connectors, and comes in an MXM Module form factor. The RTX 2080 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length, 116 mm in height, and 35 mm in width, whereas the R9 M290X’s dimensions are listed as portable device dependent.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two GPUs is vast, reflecting their different release dates and design philosophies. The AMD Radeon R9 M290X is built on the Graphics Core Next (GCN) 1.0 architecture, specifically using the Neptune chip. This is a mature, compute-oriented design from the early 2010s. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, in contrast, uses the Turing architecture with the TU104 chip, which introduced dedicated ray tracing and tensor core hardware.

The RTX 2080 features 46 RT cores and 368 Tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-driven features like DLSS. The R9 M290X has neither of these, relying purely on its 1,280 shading units for all graphics work. The FP16 capability also differs: the RTX 2080 delivers 20.14 TFLOPS (2:1), while the R9 M290X has no listed FP16 performance, indicating a lack of dedicated half-precision support.

API support highlights the generational gap. The RTX 2080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The R9 M290X supports DirectX 12 (11_1), Vulkan 1.2.170, and OpenGL 4.6. While both support OpenGL 4.6, the newer DirectX and Vulkan versions on the RTX 2080 enable features like mesh shaders, variable rate shading, and improved ray tracing integration. The R9 M290X’s GCN architecture is also older, with its predecessor listed as "Solar System" and its successor as "Polaris Mobile," indicating it sits at a transitional point in AMD’s mobile GPU lineup. The RTX 2080’s lineage is similarly clear, with its predecessor being the GeForce 10 series and its successor the GeForce 30 series, placing it squarely in the early ray tracing era.