Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire vs Radeon R9 280

When comparing Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire and Radeon R9 280, we look primarily at benchmarks and game tests. But it is not only about the numbers. Often you can find third-party models with higher clock speeds, better cooling, or a customizable RGB lighting. Not all of them will have all the features you need. Another thing to consider is the port selection. Most graphics cards have at least one DisplayPort and HDMI interface, but some monitors require DVI. Before you buy, check the TDP of the graphics card - this characteristic will help you estimate the consumption of the graphics card. You may even have to upgrade your PSU to meet its requirements. An important factor when choosing between Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire and Radeon R9 280 is the price. Does the additional cost justify the performance hit? Our comparison should help you make the right decision.

Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 7970M 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 7970M Crossfire here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire Radeon R9 280
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt 200 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Both graphics cards have the same power consumption of 200 Watt.
  • Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire is used in Laptops, and Radeon R9 280 - in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon R9 280 - with GCN 1.0.
  • Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire and Radeon R9 280 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire is 3550 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 280.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 35−40
ultra / 1080p 21−24 21−24
QHD / 1440p 16−18 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 60−65
medium / 1080p 40−45 40−45
Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire and Radeon R9 280 have the same average FPS in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire Radeon R9 280
Architecture GCN GCN 1.0
Code name Wimbledon XT Tahiti
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 1 May 2012 4 March 2014
Pipelines 2560 1792
Core clock speed 850 MHz
Boost Clock 933 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 104.5
Floating-point performance 3,344 gflops
Length 275 mm
Memory bus width 2x 256 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 4800 MHz 1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth 240 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX DirectX 11.1, Shader 5.0
Shader Model 5.1
OpenGL 4.6
OpenCL 1.2
Vulkan +
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 3.0
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 408 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
TrueAudio +
Design reference
CrossFire +
DDMA audio +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 21.5 Mh/s
LiquidVR +
TressFX +
UVD +
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