Radeon HD 7870 vs Radeon R9 M280X

In this comparison between Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon R9 M280X 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 Radeon HD 7870 will be the best choice, for others Radeon R9 M280X will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon R9 M280X is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon R9 M280X 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 R9 M280X here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 7870 Radeon R9 M280X
Power consumption (TDP) 175 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16
Memory type GDDR5 Not Listed
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB
Display Connectors No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 7870 is used in Desktops, and Radeon R9 M280X - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon R9 M280X are build with GCN architecture.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 is 100 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 M280X.
  • Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon R9 M280X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 24−27 2−3
ultra / 1080p 14−16 1−2
QHD / 1440p 9−10 0−1
4K / 2160p 6−7
low / 720p 45−50 14−16
medium / 1080p 30−33 4−5
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7870 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 480% more, than Radeon R9 M280X.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7870 Radeon R9 M280X
Architecture GCN GCN
Code name Pitcairn XT Saturn XT
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 5 March 2012 1 February 2015
Pipelines 1280 896
Core clock speed 1000 MHz 900 MHz
Transistor count 2800 Million 2,080 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 61.60
Floating-point performance 1,792 gflops
Memory bus width 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth 96 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX DirectX 11.1, Shader 5.1
Shader Model 6.3
OpenGL 4.4
OpenCL Not Listed
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.39 kh/s
FreeSync +
Bus support Not Listed
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 0.63 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 16.6 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 145 Sol/s
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