AMD Radeon HD 6970M vs AMD Radeon R9 280X

VS
Performance
Radeon HD 6970M
2,818.53% of 104,598
Radeon R9 280X283% better
10,79210% of 104,598

The Radeon R9 280X has 283% better performance than the Radeon HD 6970M for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon HD 6970M
No data available
Radeon R9 280X
36.0922% of 161.45

The Radeon R9 280X has 22% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: AMD Radeon RX 7600.

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Summary

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About the AMD Radeon HD 6970M GPU

The AMD Radeon HD 6970M is an end-of-life mobile graphics card that released in Q1 2011. It is built on the TeraScale 2 GPU microarchitecture (codename Blackcomb) and is manufactured on a 40 nm process.

Memory

The HD 6970M has 1,024 MB of GDDR5 memory, with a 900 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 115.2 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The HD 6970M includes 960 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 680 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 48 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GPU has a thermal design power (TDP) of 75 W. A power supply not strong enough to handle this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

Benchmark Performance

The HD 6970M has the 310th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 2.69% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

About the AMD Radeon R9 280X GPU

The AMD Radeon R9 280X is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q4 2013 with a MSRP of $299. It is built on the GCN 1.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Tahiti) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The R9 280X has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,500 MHz memory clock and a 384 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 288 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The R9 280X includes 2,048 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 850 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,000 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 128 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The R9 280X occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.2 display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 600 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 250 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The R9 280X has the 171st best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 10.32% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 10,792 score and $299 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 36.09. This is the 73rd best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

General Info

General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.

InfoRadeon HD 6970MRadeon R9 280X
ManufacturerAMDAMD
ArchitectureTeraScale 2GCN 1.0
Market SegmentMobileDesktop
Release DateQ1 2011Q4 2013
Launch Price (MSRP)--$299
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

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Fortnite
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Dota 2 - Reborn
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The Witcher 3
Display FPS for Grand Theft Auto V
GTA V

FPS Benchmarks

This table showcases the average frame rate (FPS) achieved both GPUs in at various resolutions. Frame rate is a crucial indicator of how smoothly the GPU can run the game. A higher FPS generally translates to a smoother gameplay experience.

  • Frames Per Second
FPS data for Fortnite
Fortnite
Radeon HD 6970MRadeon R9 280X
Low - 720p
--
--
Medium - 1080p
--
158 FPS
High - 1080p
--
60 FPS
Ultra - 1080p
--
48 FPS
QHD - 1440p
--
--
4K UHD - 2160p
--
--
FPS Source: Notebookcheck

Compare Frames Per Second (FPS)

The average frame rate (FPS) in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, higher FPS results in a smoother gameplay experience.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon HD 6970M orRadeon R9 280X
GPUFrames Per Second
Radeon RX 57072+52%
Radeon RX 48064.5+36%
GeForce GTX 165061+28%
GeForce GTX 97060+26%
Radeon RX 47058.9+24%
Radeon R9 280X47.5
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti44.8-6%
GeForce GTX 105042-12%
Radeon R7 37030.2-36%
GeForce GT 103024.5-48%

Compare Cost Per Frame

The average cost per frame in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. Generally, a lower cost per frame implies better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon HD 6970M orRadeon R9 280X
GPUCost Per Frame
GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)3.29-48%
Radeon RX 4803.55-44%
Radeon R7 3704.93-22%
GeForce GTX 9705.48-13%
GeForce GTX 9806.01-5%
Radeon R9 280X6.29
Radeon R9 FURY7.63+21%

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
Radeon HD 6970M
2,818.53% of 104,598
Radeon R9 280X283% better
10,79210% of 104,598

The Radeon R9 280X has 283% better performance than the Radeon HD 6970M for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon HD 6970M is ranked 310th with a score of 2,818.5, and the Radeon R9 280X is ranked 171st with a score of 10,792.

Performance per dollar
Radeon HD 6970M
No data available
Radeon R9 280X
36.0922% of 161.45

The Radeon R9 280X has 55% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

Radeon R9 280X's 36.09 performance per dollar ranks it 0th among the other benchmarked GPUs in our database.

Relative Performance

The average score in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon HD 6970M or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce GTX 165013,645+384%
Radeon R9 38012,191+333%
Radeon R9 280X10,792+283%
GeForce GTX 96010,767.5+282%
GeForce GTX 68010,216.5+262%
GeForce MX1302,875+2%
Radeon 610M2,863+2%
Radeon HD 6970M2,818.5
GeForce GT 755M2,800.5-1%
GeForce GTX 485M2,709-4%

Relative Value For Money

The average performance per dollar in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. A higher score implies a better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon HD 6970M orRadeon R9 280X
GPUPerformance Per Dollar
GeForce GTX 96054.11+50%
GeForce GTX 95052.52+46%
GeForce GTX 97048.73+35%
Radeon R9 390X41.83+16%
GeForce GTX 750 Ti36.09+0%
Radeon R9 280X36.09
GeForce GTX 98032.07-11%
GeForce GTX 76031.98-11%
Radeon R9 FURY31.95-11%
Radeon R9 290X29.45-18%

Benchmark Scores

This table showcases the average performance scores achieved by both GPUs across industry-standard benchmark tests. These scores provide a valuable insight into overall performance. Powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

  • Popular
BenchmarkRadeon HD 6970MRadeon R9 280X
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
--
2,210
3DMark Time Spy Score
--
2,393
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
--
52,117
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
--
8,343
3DMark 11 Performance Score
3,054
10,241
(+235.33%)
PassMark G3D Mark
2,270
6,178
(+172.16%)
PassMark G2D Mark
651
686
(+5.38%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
--
95.2
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

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Graphics Processor

General information about the graphics processing unit like their architecture, manufacturing process size, and transistor count. Newer GPU architectures generally bring efficiency improvements and may introduce technologies that enhance graphical capabilities.

SpecRadeon HD 6970MRadeon R9 280X
CodenameBlackcombTahiti
ArchitectureTeraScale 2GCN 1.0
Process Size40 nm28 nm
Transistors1,700 million4,313 million

Memory Details

Memory specifications like their capacity, bandwidth, and clock speeds. GPU memory stores graphics data like frames, textures, and shadows which helps display rendered images. These specs are crucial for graphics-intense applications like gaming and 3D modeling.

SpecRadeon HD 6970MRadeon R9 280X
Memory Size1,024 MB3 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth115.2 Gb/s288 Gb/s
Memory Clock900 MHz1,500 MHz
Memory Interface256 bit384 bit
L1 Cache8 KB16 KB
L2 Cache512 KB768 KB

Board Compatibility

Compatibility information like their slot size, bus interface, power consumption, and display support. These specs are useful for verifying compatibility with your motherboard, power supply, and monitor.

SpecRadeon HD 6970MRadeon R9 280X
Slots--2 slots
Bus InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)75 W250 W
Suggested PSU--600 W
Power Connectors--1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
OutputsDevice DependentDVI, HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.2

Cores & Clock Speeds

Processing power information like its cores and clock speed. These specs impact how fast they can process graphics. Each type of core or component serves a specific computational purpose.

SpecRadeon HD 6970MRadeon R9 280X
Stream Processors (SP)9602,048
Compute Units (CU)1232
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)48128
Render Output Units (ROP)3232
Core Clock Speed680 MHz850 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)--1,000 MHz

Theoretical Performance

Theoretical performance numbers derived from the raw specifications of the different components like core count and clock speeds. While these provide a glimpse into peak processing power, they do not represent real-world performance.

SpecRadeon HD 6970MRadeon R9 280X
Pixel Fill Rate21.76 GPixel/s32 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate32.64 GTexel/s128 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance1,306 GFLOPS4.1 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance--1,024 GFLOPS

API Support

Graphics API versions supported by these graphics cards. APIs evolve over time, introducing new features and functionalities. Older GPUs may not support recent versions.

SpecRadeon HD 6970MRadeon R9 280X
DirectX11.2 (11_0)12 (11_1)
OpenCL1.22.1 (1.2)
OpenGL4.44.6
Shader Model5.06.5 (5.1)

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* Performance rating, performance per dollar, and rankings are based on the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark and MSRP.