2 Aug 2020 - Graphics card reviewed

While some games have more powerful requirements than this GPU, the Radeon R9 290X is only really challenged by the most demanding games released today, but normally it is more than capable of running games with a stable frame rate at 1080p. DirectX 11 gaming system requirements will be met by this gpu.

We take a look at game performance achieved on this graphics card when running 2020 popular games. This short Radeon R9 290X game hardware review looks at the graphics card frame rate performance on Ultra graphics settings at 1080p, 1440p and 4K screen resolutions. This graphics hardware can run 287 of the 1000 most demanding PC games played today.

With 1080p being the most common gaming resolution at the moment we explored how well the Radeon R9 290X can run Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p and predict it will return weak frame rates at the following graphics settings - Low: 58 FPS, Medium: 46 FPS, High: 31 FPS and Ultra: 22 FPS. For performance contrast we can see that Horizon: Zero Dawn is predicted to return a reasonable 46 FPS at Ultra 1080p.

With PC gamers looking for larger screen sizes like 1440p we tested the Radeon R9 290X by researching Cyberpunk 2077 leading us to predict a weak performance. Its FPS predictions for the graphics settings are as follows - L: 44FPS, M: 35FPS, H: 23FPS, U: 17FPS. Another popular game we researched with this card was Horizon: Zero Dawn and that was playable. This graphics card is predicted to deliver 35 FPS at Ultra 1440p. Another popular title was Assassins Creed: Valhalla which is predicted to get weak results with a 12FPS on Ultra 1440p. Looking at a few of these 1440p results for the Radeon R9 290X we get the impression that it is not a first choice gaming resolution. While this graphics card would likely be more suited to 1080p gaming, you may be able to make some graphical tweaks in the game options to improve your stability at 1440p.

How many years will the Radeon R9 290X graphics card play newly released games and how long until you should consider upgrading the Radeon R9 290X in your PC? Our current calculations suggest a graphics card upgrade will be required in around 12-18 months

Whats a good PC graphics upgrade for the Radeon R9 290X? Upgrading this graphics card would have us consider the 16 Series GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6GB which is 44% more powerful. This upgrade choice can also run 853 games from the most demanding games today. Alternatively upgrading this graphics card would have us consider the R-500 Series Radeon RX 590 8GB which is 24% more powerful. This upgrade choice can also run 805 games from the most demanding games today.