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    GeForce GTX 260 vs Radeon R9 280X

    If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon R9 280X, 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 GTX 260 stacks up against Radeon R9 280X, check out specs charts below.
    GeForce GTX 260 Check Price
    Radeon R9 280X Check Price

    Main Specs

      GeForce GTX 260 Radeon R9 280X
    Power consumption (TDP) 182 Watt 250 Watt
    Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
    Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
    Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
    Maximum RAM amount 896 MB 3 GB
    Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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    • Radeon R9 280X has 37% more power consumption, than GeForce GTX 260.
    • GeForce GTX 260 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R9 280X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
    • GeForce GTX 260 has 893 GB more memory, than Radeon R9 280X.
    • Both cards are used in Desktops.
    • GeForce GTX 260 is build with Tesla 2.0 architecture, and Radeon R9 280X - with GCN.
    • GeForce GTX 260 is manufactured by 65 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 280X - by 28 nm process technology.
    • Radeon R9 280X is 265 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 260.

    Game benchmarks

    high / 1080p 3−4 35−40
    ultra / 1080p 1−2 21−24
    QHD / 1440p 0−1 16−18
    4K / 2160p − 10−11
    low / 720p 14−16 60−65
    medium / 1080p 5−6 40−45
    The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 583% more, than GeForce GTX 260.

    Full Specs

      GeForce GTX 260 Radeon R9 280X
    Architecture Tesla 2.0 GCN
    Code name GT200 Thaiti XTL
    Type Desktop Desktop
    Release date 16 June 2008 8 October 2013
    Pipelines 192 2048
    Core clock speed 1242 MHz
    Boost Clock 1000 MHz
    Transistor count 1,400 million 4,313 million
    Manufacturing process technology 65 nm 28 nm
    Texture fill rate 36.9 billion/sec 128.0
    Floating-point performance 476.9 gflops 4,096 gflops
    Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm) 275 mm
    Memory bus width 448 Bit 384 Bit
    Memory clock speed 999 MHz
    Memory bandwidth 111.9 GB/s 288 GB/s
    Shared memory -
    DirectX 11.1 (10_0)
    Shader Model 4.0 5.1
    OpenGL 2.1 4.6
    OpenCL 1.1 1.2
    Vulkan N/A +
    CUDA +
    Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.5 kh/s
    FreeSync +
    CUDA cores 192
    Bus support PCIe 3.0
    Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
    SLI options +
    Multi monitor support +
    HDMI + +
    Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
    Audio input for HDMI S/PDIF
    Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 30 Mh/s 494 Mh/s
    Eyefinity +
    HD3D +
    TrueAudio +
    Design reference
    DisplayPort support +
    CrossFire +
    DDMA audio +
    Decred / DCR (Decred) 1.07 Gh/s
    Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 14.42 Mh/s
    Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 285 Sol/s
    AppAcceleration +
    LiquidVR +
    TressFX +
    UVD +
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