GeForce GTX 280 vs Radeon HD 7870 XT

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing GeForce GTX 280 and Radeon HD 7870 XT. Here you can take a closer look at graphics cards specs, such as core clock speed, memory type and size, display connectors, etc. The price, overall benchmark and gaming performances are usually defining factors when it comes to choosing between GeForce GTX 280 and Radeon HD 7870 XT. Make sure that the graphics card has compatible dimensions and will properly fit in your new or current computer case. Also these graphics cards may have different system power recommendations, so take that into consideration and upgrade your PSU if necessary.
GeForce GTX 280
Radeon HD 7870 XT

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 280 Radeon HD 7870 XT
Power consumption (TDP) 236 Watt 185 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 6-pin & 8-pin 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
 
  • GeForce GTX 280 has 27% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 7870 XT uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT 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 7870 XT - with GCN 1.0.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 280 is 371 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7870 XT.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is manufactured by 65 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT is 257 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 280.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 XT is 4893 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 280.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 1−2 35−40
ultra / 1080p 0−1 21−24
QHD / 1440p 0−1 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 12−14 60−65
medium / 1080p 3−4 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7870 XT in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 683% more, than GeForce GTX 280.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 280 Radeon HD 7870 XT
Architecture Tesla 2.0 GCN 1.0
Code name GT200 Tahiti
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 16 June 2008 19 November 2012
Pipelines 240 1536
Core clock speed 1296 MHz 925 MHz
Boost Clock 975 MHz
Transistor count 1,400 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 65 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 48.2 billion/sec 93.60
Floating-point performance 622.1 gflops 2,995 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm) 267 mm
Memory bus width 512 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1107 MHz 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 141.7 GB/s 192.0 GB/s
DirectX 11.1 (10_0) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 4.0 5.1
OpenGL 2.1 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
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
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 346 Mh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 14.5 Mh/s