AMD Radeon R9 280
VS
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
AMD Radeon R9 280
VS
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition

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 7970 GHz Edition.

237
Place in performance rating
1692
no data
Value for money (0-100)
0.05
GCN 1.0
Architecture
GCN 1.0
Tahiti
Code name
Tahiti
Desktop
Type
Desktop
4 March 2014 (7 years ago)
Release date
22 June 2012
$279
Launch price (MSRP)
$499
$305 (1.1x MSRP)
Price now
$512
reference
Design
reference
10.12
Value for money
no data
Tahiti
GPU code name
no data
Desktop
Market segment
no data

Technical specs

Which GPU is better between AMD Radeon R9 280  vs  AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 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
2048
933 MHz
Boost Clock
1050 MHz
4,313 million
Transistor count
4,313 million
28 nm
Manufacturing process technology
28 nm
200 Watt
Power consumption (TDP)
250 Watt
104.5
Texture fill rate
134.4
3,344 gflops
Floating-point performance
4,301 gflops
1792
Pipelines / CUDA cores
no data
933 MHz
Boost clock speed
no data
4,313 million
Number of transistors
no data
200 Watt
Thermal design power (TDP)
no data

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Let’s discuss how graphics cards AMD Radeon R9 280 and AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition come in different sizes (length), connector types and types of interfaces.

PCIe 3.0 x16
Interface
PCIe 3.0 x16
275 mm
Length
274 mm
1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Supplementary power connectors
1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
PCIe 3.0
Bus support
PCIe 2.1 x16

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 7970 GHz Edition.

GDDR5
Memory type
GDDR5
3 GB
Maximum RAM amount
3 GB
384 Bit
Memory bus width
384 Bit
1250 MHz
Memory clock speed
1500 MHz
240 GB/s
Memory bandwidth
288 GB/s

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 7970 GHz Edition.

2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Display Connectors
1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
1
Eyefinity
+
+
HDMI
+
-
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
+
1
FreeSync
+
+
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 7970 GHz Edition 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
DirectX® 11
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 7970 GHz Edition 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 7970 GHz Edition 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 7970 GHz Edition
Death Stranding (2020) AMD Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
F1 2020 (2020) AMD Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
Gears Tactics (2020) AMD Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
Doom Eternal (2020) AMD Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
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

25.6% faster in synthetic tests

Cheaper ($305 (1.1x MSRP) vs $512)

Less power consumption (200 Watt vs 250 Watt)

Advantages of AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition

More pipelines (2048 vs 1792)

More memory bandwidth (288 GB/s vs 240 GB/s)

So, AMD Radeon R9 280 or AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition?

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

AMD Radeon R9 280 versus AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 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

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
4.1 Out of 12 Hitesti Score