G3D Mark is a standard benchmark that measures graphics performance in real-world gaming scenarios. It simplifies comparing cards from different brands, where higher scores directly correlate with better fps and smoother gaming experiences.

Head-to-Head Verdict, Benchmarks, Value & Long-Term Outlook

This comparison brings together gaming FPS, raw graphics performance, VRAM, feature set, power efficiency, pricing context, and long-term value so you can see which GPU actually makes more sense.

GRID P40-3Q

2013

Why buy it

✅Competitive enough if your priority is price, power, or specific feature preference.

Trade-offs

❌Poor future-proofing: 2013-era hardware with 4 GB of VRAM is already a legacy-tier option for modern games.
❌
2188.8% HIGHER MSRP
$5,699 MSRPvs$249 MSRP
❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 1.2 vs 26.8 G3D/$ ($5,699 MSRP vs $249 MSRP).
❌18.4% higher power demand at 225W vs 190W.
❌20.8% longer card at 267mm vs 221mm.

Radeon R9 285

2014

Why buy it

✅Costs $5,450 less on MSRP ($249 MSRP vs $5,699 MSRP).
✅Delivers 2227.1% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 26.8 vs 1.2 G3D/$ ($249 MSRP vs $5,699 MSRP).
✅Draws 190W instead of 225W, a 35W reduction.
✅Measures 221mm instead of 267mm, a 46mm shorter card that is more SFF-friendly.

Trade-offs

❌Poor future-proofing: 2014-era hardware with 4 GB of VRAM is already a legacy-tier option for modern games.

GRID P40-3Q

2013

Radeon R9 285

2014

Why buy it

✅Competitive enough if your priority is price, power, or specific feature preference.

Why buy it

✅Costs $5,450 less on MSRP ($249 MSRP vs $5,699 MSRP).
✅Delivers 2227.1% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 26.8 vs 1.2 G3D/$ ($249 MSRP vs $5,699 MSRP).
✅Draws 190W instead of 225W, a 35W reduction.
✅Measures 221mm instead of 267mm, a 46mm shorter card that is more SFF-friendly.

Trade-offs

❌Poor future-proofing: 2013-era hardware with 4 GB of VRAM is already a legacy-tier option for modern games.
❌
2188.8% HIGHER MSRP
$5,699 MSRPvs$249 MSRP
❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 1.2 vs 26.8 G3D/$ ($5,699 MSRP vs $249 MSRP).
❌18.4% higher power demand at 225W vs 190W.
❌20.8% longer card at 267mm vs 221mm.

Trade-offs

❌Poor future-proofing: 2014-era hardware with 4 GB of VRAM is already a legacy-tier option for modern games.

Quick Answers

So, is Radeon R9 285 better than GRID P40-3Q?

Yes, but this is not really about a huge raw performance gap. The broader synthetic picture is also very close at 6,570 vs 6,680 in G3D Mark. The bigger reason to prefer Radeon R9 285 is the overall package: you are getting a newer generation, FSR upscaling.

Which one is more future-proof for 2026 and beyond?

GRID P40-3Q is the more future-proof choice for 2026 and beyond. You are getting the stronger feature stack with no meaningful modern upscaling stack instead of FSR upscaling. That broader feature stack should age better as more games lean on modern upscaling and frame-generation support.

Which one is the smarter buy today, not just the cheaper card?

Radeon R9 285 can still make sense if you find it at the right price, especially around $249 MSRP. Radeon R9 285 is still the smarter buy for most people, though, because the raw performance is close while the overall package is cleaner. Radeon R9 285 is about $5,450 cheaper on MSRP at $249 MSRP versus $5,699 MSRP, and you are getting 1.7% higher G3D Mark. GRID P40-3Q is the more forward-looking alternative, so it still has a real case if you care more about future-proofing than about squeezing out the strongest gaming value today.

When does GRID P40-3Q make more sense than Radeon R9 285?

Yes. GRID P40-3Q is still an excellent gaming GPU in 2026: it is still comfortable for 1080p and decent for 1440p, though 4K is more situational. It makes more sense if your priority is future-proofing and staying closer to $5,699 MSRP more than squeezing out the extra headroom of Radeon R9 285. The trade-off is that Radeon R9 285 currently gives you 1.7% higher G3D Mark. It also leads G3D-per-dollar by 2227.1%.

Games Benchmarks

Real-world benchmarks and performance projections based on comprehensive hardware analysis and comparative metrics. Values represent expected performance on High/Ultra settings at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. Modeled using a Ryzen 7 9800X3D reference profile to minimize specific CPU bottlenecks.

Note: Performance behavior can vary per game. Specific architectures may perform better or worse depending on game engine optimizations and API implementation.

GRID P40-3Q Benchmark Check

Radeon R9 285 Benchmark Check

Path of Exile 2

Preset	GRID P40-3Q	Radeon R9 285
1080p
low	103 FPS	81 FPS
medium	89 FPS	69 FPS
high	70 FPS	57 FPS
ultra	42 FPS	37 FPS
1440p
low	90 FPS	71 FPS
medium	79 FPS	62 FPS
high	56 FPS	45 FPS
ultra	32 FPS	29 FPS
4K
low	29 FPS	26 FPS
medium	27 FPS	24 FPS
high	18 FPS	16 FPS
ultra	16 FPS	14 FPS

Open GRID P40-3Q Open Radeon R9 285

Path of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2

Counter-Strike 2

Preset	GRID P40-3Q	Radeon R9 285
1080p
low	111 FPS	129 FPS
medium	78 FPS	98 FPS
high	57 FPS	78 FPS
ultra	39 FPS	52 FPS
1440p
low	72 FPS	73 FPS
medium	49 FPS	53 FPS
high	37 FPS	39 FPS
ultra	27 FPS	27 FPS
4K
low	36 FPS	27 FPS
medium	25 FPS	19 FPS
high	20 FPS	15 FPS
ultra	14 FPS	11 FPS

Open GRID P40-3Q Open Radeon R9 285

Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2

League of Legends

Preset	GRID P40-3Q	Radeon R9 285
1080p
low	296 FPS	301 FPS
medium	237 FPS	240 FPS
high	197 FPS	200 FPS
ultra	148 FPS	150 FPS
1440p
low	222 FPS	225 FPS
medium	177 FPS	180 FPS
high	148 FPS	150 FPS
ultra	111 FPS	113 FPS
4K
low	148 FPS	150 FPS
medium	118 FPS	120 FPS
high	99 FPS	100 FPS
ultra	74 FPS	75 FPS

Open GRID P40-3Q Open Radeon R9 285

League of Legends

League of Legends

Valorant

Preset	GRID P40-3Q	Radeon R9 285
1080p
low	166 FPS	140 FPS
medium	133 FPS	113 FPS
high	117 FPS	97 FPS
ultra	90 FPS	81 FPS
1440p
low	121 FPS	104 FPS
medium	99 FPS	85 FPS
high	87 FPS	74 FPS
ultra	62 FPS	57 FPS
4K
low	70 FPS	62 FPS
medium	54 FPS	47 FPS
high	44 FPS	37 FPS
ultra	29 FPS	26 FPS

Open GRID P40-3Q Open Radeon R9 285

Valorant

Valorant

Check FPS for your specific build

Technical Specifications

Side-by-side comparison of GRID P40-3Q and Radeon R9 285

GRID P40-3Q

The GRID P40-3Q is manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in June 28 2013. It features the Kepler architecture. The core clock speed is 745 MHz. It has 1536 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 225W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 6,570 points. Launch price was $469.

Radeon R9 285

The Radeon R9 285 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in September 2 2014. It features the GCN 3.0 architecture. The core clock speed is 918 MHz. It has 1792 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 190W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 6,680 points. Launch price was $249.

⚡

Graphics Performance

The GRID P40-3Q scores 6,570 and the Radeon R9 285 reaches 6,680 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 1.7% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The GRID P40-3Q is built on Kepler while the Radeon R9 285 uses GCN 3.0, both on a 28 nm process. Shader units: 1,536 (GRID P40-3Q) vs 1,792 (Radeon R9 285). Raw compute: 2.289 TFLOPS (GRID P40-3Q) vs 3.29 TFLOPS (Radeon R9 285).

Feature	GRID P40-3Q	Radeon R9 285
G3D Mark Score	6,570	6,680+2%
Architecture	Kepler	GCN 3.0
Process Node	28 nm	28 nm
Shading Units	1536	1792+17%
Compute (TFLOPS)	2.289 TFLOPS	3.29 TFLOPS+44%
ROPs	32	32
TMUs	128+14%	112
L1 Cache	128 KB	448 KB+250%
L2 Cache	512 KB	512 KB

✨

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

Feature	GRID P40-3Q	Radeon R9 285
Upscaling Tech	Upscaling support	FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
Frame Generation	Not Supported	Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction	No	No
Low Latency	Standard	AMD Anti-Lag

💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards feature 4 GB of video memory. Bus width: 128-bit vs 256-bit.

Feature	GRID P40-3Q	Radeon R9 285
VRAM Capacity	4 GB	4 GB
Memory Type	GDDR6	GDDR5
Bus Width	128-bit	256-bit+100%
L2 Cache	512 KB	512 KB

🖥️

Display & API Support

DirectX support: 12 (11_0) (GRID P40-3Q) vs 12.0 (Radeon R9 285). Vulkan: 1.3 vs 1.2. OpenGL: 4.6 vs 4.4. Maximum simultaneous displays: 4 vs 4.

Feature	GRID P40-3Q	Radeon R9 285
DirectX	12 (11_0)	12.0
Vulkan	1.3+8%	1.2
OpenGL	4.6+5%	4.4
Max Displays	4	4

🎬

Media & Encoding

Hardware encoder: Tesla NVENC x24 (GRID P40-3Q) vs VCE 3.0 (Radeon R9 285). Decoder: Tesla NVDEC vs UVD 5.0. Supported codecs: H.264,HEVC (GRID P40-3Q) vs MPEG-2,H.264 (Radeon R9 285).

Feature	GRID P40-3Q	Radeon R9 285
Encoder	Tesla NVENC x24	VCE 3.0
Decoder	Tesla NVDEC	UVD 5.0
Codecs	H.264,HEVC	MPEG-2,H.264

🔌

Power & Dimensions

The GRID P40-3Q draws 225W versus the Radeon R9 285's 190W — a 16.9% difference. The Radeon R9 285 is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (GRID P40-3Q) vs 500W (Radeon R9 285). Power connectors: PCIe-powered vs 2x 6-pin. Card length: 267mm vs 221mm, occupying 2 vs 2 slots. Typical load temperature: 85°C vs 65°C.

Feature	GRID P40-3Q	Radeon R9 285
TDP	225W	190W-16%
Recommended PSU	350W-30%	500W
Power Connector	PCIe-powered	2x 6-pin
Length	267mm	221mm
Height	111mm	109mm
Slots	2	2
Temp (Load)	85°C	65°C-24%
Perf/Watt	29.2	35.2+21%

💰

Value Analysis

The GRID P40-3Q launched at $5699 MSRP, while the Radeon R9 285 launched at $249. The Radeon R9 285 costs 95.6% less ($5450 savings) on MSRP. Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 1.2 (GRID P40-3Q) vs 26.8 (Radeon R9 285) — the Radeon R9 285 offers 2133.3% better value. The Radeon R9 285 is the newer GPU (2014 vs 2013).