Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire vs Radeon R9 280X

When choosing between Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire 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 6970M Crossfire and Radeon R9 280X.

Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire 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 HD 6970M Crossfire here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire Radeon R9 280X
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2x2 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon R9 280X has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire.
  • Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire is used in Laptops, and Radeon R9 280X - in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire is build with Terascale 2 architecture, and Radeon R9 280X - with GCN.
  • Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 280X - by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 21−24 35−40
ultra / 1080p 12−14 21−24
QHD / 1440p 7−8 16−18
4K / 2160p 5−6 10−11
low / 720p 40−45 60−65
medium / 1080p 24−27 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 68% more, than Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire Radeon R9 280X
Architecture Terascale 2 GCN
Code name Blackcomb XT Thaiti XTL
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 6 January 2011 8 October 2013
Pipelines 1920 2048
Core clock speed 680 MHz
Boost Clock 1000 MHz
Transistor count 2x1700 Million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 128.0
Floating-point performance 4,096 gflops
Length 275 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 900 MHz
Memory bandwidth 288 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX DirectX 11, Shader 5.0
Shader Model 5.1
OpenGL 4.6
OpenCL 1.2
Vulkan +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.5 kh/s
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 3.0
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 494 Mh/s
Laptop size large
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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