GeForce GTX 280 vs Radeon RX 480 mobile

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between GeForce GTX 280 and Radeon RX 480 mobile, 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 280 stacks up against Radeon RX 480 mobile, check out specs charts below.

Radeon RX 480 mobile is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon RX 480 mobile 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 Radeon RX 480 mobile here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 280 Radeon RX 480 mobile
Power consumption (TDP) 236 Watt 100 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 MXM-B (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors 6-pin & 8-pin
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 8 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video No outputs
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  • GeForce GTX 280 has 136% more power consumption, than Radeon RX 480 mobile.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon RX 480 mobile uses MXM-B (3.0) interface.
  • Radeon RX 480 mobile has 7 GB more memory, than GeForce GTX 280.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is used in Desktops, and Radeon RX 480 mobile - in Laptops.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is build with Tesla 2.0 architecture, and Radeon RX 480 mobile - with Polaris.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is manufactured by 65 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 480 mobile - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 480 mobile is 6893 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 280.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 1−2 12−14
ultra / 1080p 0−1 7−8
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 12−14 27−30
medium / 1080p 3−4 14−16
The average gaming FPS of Radeon RX 480 mobile in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 200% more, than GeForce GTX 280.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 280 Radeon RX 480 mobile
Architecture Tesla 2.0 Polaris
Code name GT200 Polaris
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 16 June 2008 1 August 2016
Pipelines 240 2304
Core clock speed 1296 MHz
Boost Clock 1077 MHz
Transistor count 1,400 million 5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology 65 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 48.2 billion/sec 155.1
Floating-point performance 622.1 gflops 4,963 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)
Memory bus width 512 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1107 MHz 8000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 141.7 GB/s 256.0 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 11.1 (10_0) 12 (12_0)
Shader Model 4.0 6.4
OpenGL 2.1 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 2.0
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
CUDA +
CUDA cores 240
Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI S/PDIF
Laptop size large
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