AMD Radeon R9 280
VS
AMD Radeon HD 7870M
AMD Radeon R9 280
VS
AMD Radeon HD 7870M

General info

The general info section in the graphics cards comparison list contains information about the date of release, type, overall rating and other useful data for identifying winner between AMD Radeon R9 280  vs  AMD Radeon HD 7870M.

237
Place in performance rating
540
GCN 1.0
Architecture
GCN
Tahiti
Code name
Heathrow
Desktop
Type
Laptop
4 March 2014 (7 years ago)
Release date
24 April 2012 (9 years ago)
$279
Launch price (MSRP)
no data
$305 (1.1x MSRP)
Price now
$338
reference
Design
no data
10.12
Value for money
0.51
Tahiti
GPU code name
Heathrow XT
Desktop
Market segment
Laptop

Technical specs

Which GPU is better between AMD Radeon R9 280  vs  AMD Radeon HD 7870M in the fabrication process, power consumption, and also base and turbo frequency of the GPU is the most important part containing in the graphics cards hierarchy.

1792
Pipelines
640
no data
Core clock speed
800 MHz
933 MHz
Boost Clock
no data
4,313 million
Transistor count
1,500 million
28 nm
Manufacturing process technology
28 nm
200 Watt
Power consumption (TDP)
45 Watt
104.5
Texture fill rate
32.00
3,344 gflops
Floating-point performance
1,024 gflops
1792
Pipelines / CUDA cores
640
933 MHz
Boost clock speed
no data
4,313 million
Number of transistors
1,500 million
200 Watt
Thermal design power (TDP)
45 Watt

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Let’s discuss how graphics cards AMD Radeon R9 280 and AMD Radeon HD 7870M come in different sizes (length), connector types and types of interfaces.

PCIe 3.0 x16
Interface
PCIe 3.0 x16
275 mm
Length
no data
1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Supplementary power connectors
no data
no data
Laptop size
large
PCIe 3.0
Bus support
no data

Memory

Graphics cards memory plays important role both in gaming and in applications for graphics. The card will perform much quicker and better, if it has more memory capacity and right memory type. What is the difference between AMD Radeon R9 280 vs AMD Radeon HD 7870M.

GDDR5
Memory type
GDDR5
3 GB
Maximum RAM amount
2 GB
384 Bit
Memory bus width
128 Bit
1250 MHz
Memory clock speed
4000 MHz
240 GB/s
Memory bandwidth
64 GB/s
no data
Shared memory
-

Video outputs and ports

Let’s find out the difference in extra ports between two graphics cards. What's the difference between AMD Radeon R9 280 vs AMD Radeon HD 7870M.

2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Display Connectors
No outputs
1
Eyefinity
no data
+
HDMI
no data
-
DisplayPort support
no data

Technologies

Let’s have a look what is the difference. It is worthwhile to note that NVIDIA and AMD are using different technologies.

-
AppAcceleration
no data
1
CrossFire
no data
1
FreeSync
no data
+
HD3D
no data
1
LiquidVR
no data
-
PowerTune
no data
1
TressFX
no data
+
TrueAudio
no data
-
ZeroCore
no data
+
DDMA audio
no data
-
Enduro
no data
+
UVD
no data

API support

The confrontation between the two contenders AMD Radeon R9 280 and AMD Radeon HD 7870M is practically over. The hardware support (API) does not greatly affect the overall performance, it is not considered in synthetic benchmarks and other performance tests. 

DirectX® 12
DirectX
12 (11_1)
4.6
OpenGL
4.6
+
Vulkan
no data
5.1
Shader Model
no data
1.2
OpenCL
no data
-
Mantle
no data

Gaming performance

Select form the list the required name to identify gaming performance for AMD Radeon R9 280 and AMD Radeon HD 7870M graphics cards. The result shows how fast the game will run and whether it can be run on this computer. The different monitor resolutions – from low to 4K – are used for testing. Find out is the AMD Radeon R9 280 or AMD Radeon HD 7870M good for gaming.


low
1280x720
med.
1920x1080
high
1920x1080
ultra
1920x1080
QHD
2560x1440
4K
3840x2160
Horizon Zero Dawn (2020) AMD Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon HD 7870M
Death Stranding (2020) AMD Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon HD 7870M
F1 2020 (2020) AMD Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon HD 7870M
Gears Tactics (2020) AMD Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon HD 7870M
Doom Eternal (2020) AMD Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon HD 7870M
Legend
5 Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
? Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Advantages of AMD Radeon R9 280

18.73% faster in synthetic tests

Cheaper ($305 (1.1x MSRP) vs $338)

More pipelines (1792 vs 640)

More maximum RAM amount (3 GB vs 2 GB)

More memory bandwidth (240 GB/s vs 64 GB/s)

Advantages of AMD Radeon HD 7870M

Less power consumption (45 Watt vs 200 Watt)

So, AMD Radeon R9 280 or AMD Radeon HD 7870M?

Judging by the results of synthetic and gaming tests, we recommend AMD Radeon R9 280 .

AMD Radeon R9 280 versus AMD Radeon HD 7870M performance benchmarks comparison

Overall benchmark performance

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Benchmark 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

Benchmark 3DMark 11 Performance GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark 11 Performance GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Vantage Performance

Benchmark 3DMark Vantage Performance: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Vantage Performance test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Passmark

Benchmark Passmark: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Passmark test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

User rating

3.5 Out of 30 Hitesti Score
1.0 Out of 1 Hitesti Score