Mobility Radeon HD 4330 vs Radeon HD 4290

AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 4330

2009Core: 550 MHz
Similar parts
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VS
AMD

Radeon HD 4290

2009Core: 850 MHz
Similar parts
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Mobility Radeon HD 4330 vs Radeon HD 4290 Performance Spectrum

About G3D Mark

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.

Mobility Radeon HD 4330 vs Radeon HD 4290: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict

See where each GPU makes more sense in practice: raw FPS, VRAM, features, power draw, pricing, and long-term headroom.

Mobility Radeon HD 4330

2009

Why buy it

  • Costs $11 less on MSRP ($49 MSRP vs $60 MSRP).
  • Delivers 17.2% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 2.8 vs 2.4 G3D/$ ($49 MSRP vs $60 MSRP).
  • Draws 30W instead of 190W, a 160W reduction.

Trade-offs

  • 2009 hardware with 512 MB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.

Radeon HD 4290

2009

Why buy it

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

Trade-offs

  • 2009 hardware with 512 MB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
  • 22.4% HIGHER MSRP
    $60 MSRPvs$49 MSRP
  • Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 2.4 vs 2.8 G3D/$ ($60 MSRP vs $49 MSRP).
  • 533.3% higher power demand at 190W vs 30W.

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?
Radeon HD 4290 is the faster gaming card right now based on the synthetic data we have. It leads by 4.4% in PassMark G3D (141 vs 135), which is the best performance signal available in this matchup.
Which GPU is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond?
Mobility Radeon HD 4330 is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond because it comes out ahead on the available hardware-headroom signals for this matchup.
Which GPU is the better buy today?
Mobility Radeon HD 4330 makes the most sense to buy today. It is $11 cheaper on MSRP at $49 vs $60, and it leads G3D-per-dollar by 17.2% (2.8 vs 2.4), which is enough to swing the recommendation its way. Radeon HD 4290 still makes more sense if max raw gaming performance matters more than value.

Mobility Radeon HD 4330 vs Radeon HD 4290 Technical Specifications

Side-by-side specs, architecture details, clocks, memory, power, and platform differences.

AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 4330

The Mobility Radeon HD 4330 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in January 9 2009. It features the TeraScale architecture. The core clock speed is 550 MHz. It has 800 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 30W. Manufactured using 55 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 135 points.

AMD

Radeon HD 4290

The Radeon HD 4290 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in April 2 2009. It features the TeraScale architecture. The core clock speed is 850 MHz. It has 800 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 190W. Manufactured using 55 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 141 points. Launch price was $249.

Graphics Performance

The Mobility Radeon HD 4330 scores 135 and the Radeon HD 4290 reaches 141 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 4.4% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The Mobility Radeon HD 4330 is built on TeraScale while the Radeon HD 4290 uses TeraScale, both on a 55 nm process. Shader units: 800 (Mobility Radeon HD 4330) vs 800 (Radeon HD 4290). Raw compute: 0.88 TFLOPS (Mobility Radeon HD 4330) vs 1.36 TFLOPS (Radeon HD 4290).

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4330Radeon HD 4290
G3D Mark Score
135
141+4%
Architecture
TeraScale
TeraScale
Process Node
55 nm
55 nm
Shading Units
800
800
Compute (TFLOPS)
0.88 TFLOPS
1.36 TFLOPS+55%
ROPs
16
16
TMUs
40
40
L1 Cache
160 KB
160 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
256 KB
Frame Generation
FSR upscaling
FSR upscaling

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4330Radeon HD 4290
Upscaling Tech
FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
Frame Generation
Not Supported
Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction
No
No
Low Latency
AMD Anti-Lag
AMD Anti-Lag
💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards ship with 512 MB of GDDR5. Memory bus width is 64-bit on the Mobility Radeon HD 4330 and 64-bit on the Radeon HD 4290.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4330Radeon HD 4290
VRAM Capacity
0.5 GB
0.5 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth
Unknown
Unknown
Bus Width
64-bit
64-bit
L2 Cache
256 KB
256 KB
🖥️

Display & API Support

DirectX support: 10.1 (Mobility Radeon HD 4330) vs 10.1 (Radeon HD 4290). Maximum simultaneous displays: 2 vs 2.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4330Radeon HD 4290
DirectX
10.1
10.1
Max Displays
2
2
🎬

Media & Encoding

Hardware encoder: UVD2 (Mobility Radeon HD 4330) vs UVD 2 (Radeon HD 4290). Decoder: UVD2 vs UVD 2.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4330Radeon HD 4290
Encoder
UVD2
UVD 2
Decoder
UVD2
UVD 2
Codecs
H.264,VC-1,MPEG-4
🔌

Power & Dimensions

The Mobility Radeon HD 4330 draws 30W versus the Radeon HD 4290's 190W — a 145.5% difference. The Mobility Radeon HD 4330 is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (Mobility Radeon HD 4330) vs 350W (Radeon HD 4290). Power connectors: PCIe-powered vs 1x 6-pin. Card length: 0mm vs 1mm, occupying 0 vs 0 slots.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4330Radeon HD 4290
TDP
30W-84%
190W
Recommended PSU
350W
350W
Power Connector
PCIe-powered
1x 6-pin
Length
0mm
1mm
Height
0mm
Slots
0
0
Temp (Load)
80°C
Perf/Watt
4.5+543%
0.7
💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the Mobility Radeon HD 4330 came in at $49, while the Radeon HD 4290 launched at $60. On MSRP, Mobility Radeon HD 4330 was 18.3% cheaper ($11 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 2.8 (Mobility Radeon HD 4330) vs 2.4 (Radeon HD 4290) — the Mobility Radeon HD 4330 offers 16.7% better value.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4330Radeon HD 4290
MSRP
$49-18%
$60
Performance per Dollar
2.8+17%
2.4
Codename
M98
RV790
Release
January 9 2009
April 2 2009
Ranking
#927
#762

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