GeForce GTX 280 vs Radeon HD 6970

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 280 and Radeon HD 6970 you will find out which graphics card performs better in today's games. Bear in mind that third-party versions may have more efficient cooling and higher clock speeds. This will increase cards' performance, though not by much. In addition to raw power you should also take into account the dimensions. Thicker models simply will not fit into a small mini-ITX case. The resolution of your monitor also affects the choice, since 4K gameplay requires a more powerful GPU. And don't overspend on the graphics card. Other parts of your build may also need to be upgraded, save some money for the CPU or power supply. For some people GeForce GTX 280 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 6970 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 280 Radeon HD 6970
Power consumption (TDP) 236 Watt 550 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 6-pin & 8-pin 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR3 DDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 6970 has 133% more power consumption, than GeForce GTX 280.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 2.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon HD 6970 has 1 GB more memory, than GeForce GTX 280.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is build with Tesla 2.0 architecture, and Radeon HD 6970 - with Terascale 2.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is manufactured by 65 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 6970 - by 40 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 6970 is 257 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 280.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 6970 is 268 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 280.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 1−2 14−16
ultra / 1080p 0−1 9−10
QHD / 1440p 0−1 3−4
low / 720p 12−14 30−35
medium / 1080p 3−4 18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 6970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 266% more, than GeForce GTX 280.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 280 Radeon HD 6970
Architecture Tesla 2.0 Terascale 2
Code name GT200 Cayman
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 16 June 2008 14 December 2010
Pipelines 240 1536
Core clock speed 1296 MHz
Boost Clock 880 MHz
Transistor count 1,400 million 2,640 million
Manufacturing process technology 65 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 48.2 billion/sec 84.48
Floating-point performance 622.1 gflops 2,703.4 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm) 267 mm
Memory bus width 512 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1107 MHz 1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth 141.7 GB/s
DirectX 11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model 4.0 5.0
OpenGL 2.1 4.4
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A
CUDA +
CUDA cores 240
Bus support PCIe 2.0 x16
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) 273 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
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