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.

GeForce GTX TITAN Black

2014

Why buy it

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

Trade-offs

❌Less VRAM, with 6 GB vs 8 GB for high-resolution textures and newer games.
❌Poor future-proofing: 2014-era hardware with 6 GB of VRAM is already a legacy-tier option for modern games.
❌
132.9% HIGHER MSRP
$999 MSRPvs$429 MSRP
❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 9.2 vs 21.6 G3D/$ ($999 MSRP vs $429 MSRP).

Radeon R9 390X

2015

Why buy it

✅Costs $570 less on MSRP ($429 MSRP vs $999 MSRP).
✅Delivers 135.4% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 21.6 vs 9.2 G3D/$ ($429 MSRP vs $999 MSRP).
✅33.3% more VRAM for high-resolution textures and newer games (8 GB vs 6 GB).

Trade-offs

❌Poor future-proofing: 2015-era hardware with 8 GB of VRAM is already a legacy-tier option for modern games.

GeForce GTX TITAN Black

2014

Radeon R9 390X

2015

Why buy it

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

Why buy it

✅Costs $570 less on MSRP ($429 MSRP vs $999 MSRP).
✅Delivers 135.4% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 21.6 vs 9.2 G3D/$ ($429 MSRP vs $999 MSRP).
✅33.3% more VRAM for high-resolution textures and newer games (8 GB vs 6 GB).

Trade-offs

❌Less VRAM, with 6 GB vs 8 GB for high-resolution textures and newer games.
❌Poor future-proofing: 2014-era hardware with 6 GB of VRAM is already a legacy-tier option for modern games.
❌
132.9% HIGHER MSRP
$999 MSRPvs$429 MSRP
❌Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 9.2 vs 21.6 G3D/$ ($999 MSRP vs $429 MSRP).

Trade-offs

❌Poor future-proofing: 2015-era hardware with 8 GB of VRAM is already a legacy-tier option for modern games.

Quick Answers

So, is Radeon R9 390X better than GeForce GTX TITAN Black?

Yes, but this is not really about a huge raw performance gap. The broader synthetic picture is also very close at 9,177 vs 9,278 in G3D Mark. The bigger reason to prefer Radeon R9 390X is the overall package: you are getting a newer generation, FSR upscaling.

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

GeForce GTX TITAN Black 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 390X can still make sense if you find it at the right price, especially around $429 MSRP. Radeon R9 390X is still the smarter buy for most people, though, because the raw performance is close while the overall package is cleaner. Radeon R9 390X is about $570 cheaper on MSRP at $429 MSRP versus $999 MSRP, and you are getting 1.1% higher G3D Mark. GeForce GTX TITAN Black 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 GeForce GTX TITAN Black make more sense than Radeon R9 390X?

Yes. GeForce GTX TITAN Black 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 $999 MSRP more than squeezing out the extra headroom of Radeon R9 390X. The trade-off is that Radeon R9 390X currently gives you 1.1% higher G3D Mark. It also leads G3D-per-dollar by 135.4%.

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.

GeForce GTX TITAN Black Benchmark Check

Radeon R9 390X Benchmark Check

Path of Exile 2

Preset	GeForce GTX TITAN Black	Radeon R9 390X
1080p
low	115 FPS	135 FPS
medium	102 FPS	115 FPS
high	83 FPS	94 FPS
ultra	51 FPS	57 FPS
1440p
low	96 FPS	113 FPS
medium	84 FPS	96 FPS
high	62 FPS	70 FPS
ultra	38 FPS	42 FPS
4K
low	34 FPS	39 FPS
medium	31 FPS	36 FPS
high	23 FPS	22 FPS
ultra	20 FPS	19 FPS

Open GeForce GTX TITAN Black Open Radeon R9 390X

Path of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2

Counter-Strike 2

Preset	GeForce GTX TITAN Black	Radeon R9 390X
1080p
low	185 FPS	201 FPS
medium	160 FPS	176 FPS
high	126 FPS	146 FPS
ultra	92 FPS	115 FPS
1440p
low	121 FPS	138 FPS
medium	92 FPS	110 FPS
high	70 FPS	88 FPS
ultra	49 FPS	68 FPS
4K
low	51 FPS	61 FPS
medium	40 FPS	50 FPS
high	36 FPS	45 FPS
ultra	27 FPS	36 FPS

Open GeForce GTX TITAN Black Open Radeon R9 390X

Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2

League of Legends

Preset	GeForce GTX TITAN Black	Radeon R9 390X
1080p
low	413 FPS	418 FPS
medium	330 FPS	334 FPS
high	275 FPS	278 FPS
ultra	206 FPS	209 FPS
1440p
low	310 FPS	313 FPS
medium	248 FPS	251 FPS
high	206 FPS	209 FPS
ultra	155 FPS	157 FPS
4K
low	206 FPS	209 FPS
medium	165 FPS	167 FPS
high	138 FPS	139 FPS
ultra	103 FPS	104 FPS

Open GeForce GTX TITAN Black Open Radeon R9 390X

League of Legends

League of Legends

Valorant

Preset	GeForce GTX TITAN Black	Radeon R9 390X
1080p
low	281 FPS	283 FPS
medium	234 FPS	247 FPS
high	194 FPS	206 FPS
ultra	152 FPS	163 FPS
1440p
low	204 FPS	204 FPS
medium	176 FPS	180 FPS
high	141 FPS	144 FPS
ultra	107 FPS	110 FPS
4K
low	115 FPS	115 FPS
medium	92 FPS	94 FPS
high	76 FPS	77 FPS
ultra	55 FPS	57 FPS

Open GeForce GTX TITAN Black Open Radeon R9 390X

Valorant

Valorant

Check FPS for your specific build

Technical Specifications

Side-by-side comparison of GeForce GTX TITAN Black and Radeon R9 390X

GeForce GTX TITAN Black

The GeForce GTX TITAN Black is manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in February 18 2014. It features the Kepler architecture. The core clock ranges from 889 MHz to 980 MHz. It has 2880 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 250W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 9,177 points. Launch price was $999.

Radeon R9 390X

The Radeon R9 390X is manufactured by AMD. It was released in June 18 2015. It features the GCN 2.0 architecture. The boost clock speed is 1050 MHz. It has 2816 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 275W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 9,278 points. Launch price was $429.

⚡

Graphics Performance

The GeForce GTX TITAN Black scores 9,177 and the Radeon R9 390X reaches 9,278 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 1.1% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The GeForce GTX TITAN Black is built on Kepler while the Radeon R9 390X uses GCN 2.0, both on a 28 nm process. Shader units: 2,880 (GeForce GTX TITAN Black) vs 2,816 (Radeon R9 390X). Raw compute: 5.645 TFLOPS (GeForce GTX TITAN Black) vs 5.914 TFLOPS (Radeon R9 390X). Boost clocks: 980 MHz vs 1050 MHz.

Feature	GeForce GTX TITAN Black	Radeon R9 390X
G3D Mark Score	9,177	9,278+1%
Architecture	Kepler	GCN 2.0
Process Node	28 nm	28 nm
Shading Units	2880+2%	2816
Compute (TFLOPS)	5.645 TFLOPS	5.914 TFLOPS+5%
Boost Clock	980 MHz	1050 MHz+7%
ROPs	48	64+33%
TMUs	240+36%	176
L1 Cache	240 KB	704 KB+193%
L2 Cache	1.5 MB+50%	1 MB

✨

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

The GeForce GTX TITAN Black gives access to NVIDIA DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), widely regarding as the superior upscaling method for image quality. The Radeon R9 390X relies on FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution), which is capable but generally slightly noisier than DLSS in motion.

Feature	GeForce GTX TITAN Black	Radeon R9 390X
Upscaling Tech	Upscaling support	FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
Frame Generation	Not Supported	Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction	No	No
Low Latency	NVIDIA Reflex	AMD Anti-Lag

💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

The GeForce GTX TITAN Black comes with 6 GB of VRAM, while the Radeon R9 390X has 8 GB. The Radeon R9 390X offers 33.3% more capacity, crucial for higher resolutions and texture-heavy games. Memory bandwidth: 336 GB/s (GeForce GTX TITAN Black) vs 384 GB/s (Radeon R9 390X) — a 14.3% advantage for the Radeon R9 390X. Bus width: 384-bit vs 512-bit. L2 Cache: 1.5 MB (GeForce GTX TITAN Black) vs 1 MB (Radeon R9 390X) — the GeForce GTX TITAN Black has significantly larger on-die cache to reduce VRAM reliance.

Feature	GeForce GTX TITAN Black	Radeon R9 390X
VRAM Capacity	6 GB	8 GB+33%
Memory Type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth	336 GB/s	384 GB/s+14%
Bus Width	384-bit	512-bit+33%
L2 Cache	1.5 MB+50%	1 MB

🖥️

Display & API Support

DirectX support: 12.0 (GeForce GTX TITAN Black) vs 12 (12_0) (Radeon R9 390X). Vulkan: 1.2 vs 1.2. OpenGL: 4.6 vs 4.6. Maximum simultaneous displays: 4 vs 4.

Feature	GeForce GTX TITAN Black	Radeon R9 390X
DirectX	12.0	12 (12_0)
Vulkan	1.2	1.2
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
Max Displays	4	4

🎬

Media & Encoding

Hardware encoder: NVENC 1.0 (GeForce GTX TITAN Black) vs VCE 2.0 (Radeon R9 390X). Decoder: PureVideo HD VP5 vs UVD 4.2. Supported codecs: MPEG-2,H.264 (GeForce GTX TITAN Black) vs H.264,MPEG-2,VC-1 (Radeon R9 390X).

Feature	GeForce GTX TITAN Black	Radeon R9 390X
Encoder	NVENC 1.0	VCE 2.0
Decoder	PureVideo HD VP5	UVD 4.2
Codecs	MPEG-2,H.264	H.264,MPEG-2,VC-1

🔌

Power & Dimensions

The GeForce GTX TITAN Black draws 250W versus the Radeon R9 390X's 275W — a 9.5% difference. The GeForce GTX TITAN Black is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 600W (GeForce GTX TITAN Black) vs 750W (Radeon R9 390X). Power connectors: 6-pin + 8-pin vs 6-pin + 8-pin. Card length: 267mm vs 277mm, occupying 2 vs 2 slots. Typical load temperature: 80°C vs 80.

Feature	GeForce GTX TITAN Black	Radeon R9 390X
TDP	250W-9%	275W
Recommended PSU	600W-20%	750W
Power Connector	6-pin + 8-pin	6-pin + 8-pin
Length	267mm	277mm
Height	111mm	129mm
Slots	2	2
Temp (Load)	80°C	80
Perf/Watt	36.7+9%	33.7

💰

Value Analysis

The GeForce GTX TITAN Black launched at $999 MSRP, while the Radeon R9 390X launched at $429. The Radeon R9 390X costs 57.1% less ($570 savings) on MSRP. Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 9.2 (GeForce GTX TITAN Black) vs 21.6 (Radeon R9 390X) — the Radeon R9 390X offers 134.8% better value. The Radeon R9 390X is the newer GPU (2015 vs 2014).