GeForce GT 640M vs Radeon R9 280

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between GeForce GT 640M and Radeon R9 280, there are a couple of things to consider. Cards with more VRAM in general perform better and allow you to play on higher graphics settings. Size also makes a difference. A model with a large heatsink can occupy up to three expansion slots on a motherboard. Be sure you have enough room in your PC case. When comparing GPUs with different architectures, more processing cores and even higher TFLOPS will not always translate to better performance. To help you decide which GPU you need, we have measured frame rates in a number of popular games. For more on how the GeForce GT 640M stacks up against Radeon R9 280, check out specs charts below.

GeForce GT 640M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: GeForce GT 640M is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with GeForce GT 640M here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GT 640M Radeon R9 280
Power consumption (TDP) 32 Watt 200 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type DDR3\GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon R9 280 has 525% more power consumption, than GeForce GT 640M.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon R9 280 has 1 GB more memory, than GeForce GT 640M.
  • GeForce GT 640M is used in Laptops, and Radeon R9 280 - in Desktops.
  • GeForce GT 640M is build with Kepler architecture, and Radeon R9 280 - with GCN 1.0.
  • GeForce GT 640M and Radeon R9 280 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GT 640M is 550 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 280.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 0−1 35−40
ultra / 1080p 0−1 21−24
QHD / 1440p 0−1 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 10−12 60−65
medium / 1080p 2−3 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 766% more, than GeForce GT 640M.

Full Specs

  GeForce GT 640M Radeon R9 280
Architecture Kepler GCN 1.0
Code name N13P-GS Tahiti
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 22 March 2012 4 March 2014
Pipelines 384 1792
Boost Clock 645 MHz 933 MHz
Transistor count 1,270 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 104.5
Floating-point performance 480.0 gflops 3,344 gflops
Length 275 mm
Memory bus width 128bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 1800 - 4000 MHz 1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth 240 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 API
Shader Model 5.1 5.1
OpenGL 4.5 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan 1.1.126 +
CUDA +
FreeSync +
CUDA cores 384
Bus support PCI Express 2.0, PCI Express 3.0 PCIe 3.0
HDMI + +
HDCP +
Maximum VGA resolution Up to 2048x1536
3D Blu-Ray +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 18 Mh/s 408 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized
Optimus +
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
TrueAudio +
Design reference
CrossFire +
DDMA audio +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 21.5 Mh/s
LiquidVR +
TressFX +
UVD +
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