GeForce GTX 1650 vs Radeon R9 390
The GeForce GTX 1650 pulls ahead here — in a different league, about 40% ahead of the Radeon R9 390. But the Radeon R9 390 is the better value, undercutting it by $60 USD for the performance you get.
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GeForce GTX 1650 vs Radeon R9 390: In-Depth Breakdown
Performance: GeForce GTX 1650 vs Radeon R9 390
The GeForce GTX 1650 is dramatically faster, around 40% ahead of the Radeon R9 390. Both cards sit in the same broad class, well suited to entry-level 1080p.
Price & Value
Pricing has the Radeon R9 390 at $80 USD, $60 USD under the GeForce GTX 1650's $140 USD. Despite being slower, the Radeon R9 390 offers the better performance-per-dollar (~25% better value), so budget-focused buyers should weigh it carefully. The Radeon R9 390 is trading below its $329 USD MSRP — a genuine deal.
Power & Efficiency
Power draw favors the GeForce GTX 1650 (75W vs 275W), and it's the more efficient card too, so it's the easy pick if thermals or a smaller PSU matter. Its more modern Turing architecture on a TSMC 12nm process is part of why it does more with each watt.
VRAM & Future-Proofing
The Radeon R9 390 carries 8GB versus 4GB on the GeForce GTX 1650. The extra 4GB helps at 4K, with high-resolution texture packs, and for content-creation or local-AI workloads that exhaust smaller buffers.
Generation & Longevity
The GeForce GTX 1650 is roughly 4 years newer than the Radeon R9 390 (Turing vs GCN 2.0), so it generally benefits from a more modern architecture and longer driver-support runway.
Features & Ecosystem
Beyond raw numbers, the GeForce GTX 1650 brings NVIDIA DLSS upscaling/frame generation and stronger ray tracing, while the Radeon R9 390 offers AMD FSR upscaling and strong rasterization value. If you lean on upscaling or ray tracing, that ecosystem difference can matter as much as the frame-rate gap.
Which should you buy: GeForce GTX 1650 or Radeon R9 390?
Choose the GeForce GTX 1650 if you want the most performance and can absorb the higher price. If you're optimizing for value, the Radeon R9 390 stretches your money further for only slightly lower performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the GeForce GTX 1650 better than the Radeon R9 390?
Which is better for 4K gaming, the GeForce GTX 1650 or the Radeon R9 390?
Is the GeForce GTX 1650 worth the extra $60 USD over the Radeon R9 390?
Does the Radeon R9 390 have enough VRAM advantage to matter?
Which should you buy: GeForce GTX 1650 or Radeon R9 390?
Technical Specifications Comparison
Architecture & Cores
| Specification | GeForce GTX 1650 | Radeon R9 390 |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Turing | GCN 2.0 |
| Process Node | TSMC 12nm | TSMC 28nm |
| CUDA Cores (CUDA Cores / Stream Processors) | 896 | 2,560✓ |
Clock Speeds
| Specification | GeForce GTX 1650 | Radeon R9 390 |
|---|---|---|
| Base Clock | 1,485 MHz✓ | 1,000 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1,665 MHz✓ | 1,000 MHz |
Memory
| Specification | GeForce GTX 1650 | Radeon R9 390 |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM Capacity | 4 GB | 8 GB✓ |
| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 128-bit | 512-bit✓ |
| Memory Speed | 8 Gbps✓ | 6 Gbps |
| Bandwidth | 128 GB/s | 384 GB/s✓ |
Connectivity & Power
| Specification | GeForce GTX 1650 | Radeon R9 390 |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| TDP | 75 W✓ | 275 W |
| Power Connectors | None | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |
| Released | Apr 2019 | Jun 2015 |