Radeon HD 6870 vs Radeon R9 280X

When choosing between Radeon HD 6870 and Radeon R9 280X, it is worth examining the specifications of the models in detail. Do they meet the recommended requirements of modern games and software? Storage capacity, form factor, TDP, available ports, warranty and manufacturer support are all important. For example, the size of a PC case can limit the maximum thickness and length of the card. Often, instead of the factory overclocked card and RGB backlight, it is better to choose a reference model with a more efficient GPU. And make sure that your current power supply unit has the correct connection pins (using adapters is not recommended). This GPUs compare tool is meant to help you to choose the best graphics card for your build. Let's find out the difference between Radeon HD 6870 and Radeon R9 280X.

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 6870 Radeon R9 280X
Power consumption (TDP) 151 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 GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon R9 280X has 65% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 6870.
  • Radeon HD 6870 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R9 280X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon R9 280X has 2 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6870.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 6870 is build with Terascale 2 architecture, and Radeon R9 280X - with GCN.
  • Radeon HD 6870 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 280X - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon R9 280X is 55 mm longer, than Radeon HD 6870.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 10−12 35−40
ultra / 1080p 6−7 21−24
QHD / 1440p 1−2 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 24−27 60−65
medium / 1080p 12−14 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 227% more, than Radeon HD 6870.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 6870 Radeon R9 280X
Architecture Terascale 2 GCN
Code name RV940 Barts Thaiti XTL
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 22 October 2010 8 October 2013
Pipelines 1120 2048
Boost Clock 900 MHz 1000 MHz
Transistor count 1,700 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 50.40 128.0
Floating-point performance 2,016.0 gflops 4,096 gflops
Length 220 mm 275 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 1050 MHz
Memory bandwidth 134.4 GB/s 288 GB/s
Shared memory - -
Shader Model 5.0 5.1
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.5 kh/s
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0
HDMI + +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 213 Mh/s 494 Mh/s
Eyefinity + +
HD3D +
TrueAudio +
Design reference 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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