Radeon HD 6970 vs Radeon R9 280

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon HD 6970 and Radeon R9 280, there are a couple of things to consider. Cards with more VRAM in general perform better and allow you to play on higher graphics settings. Size also makes a difference. A model with a large heatsink can occupy up to three expansion slots on a motherboard. Be sure you have enough room in your PC case. When comparing GPUs with different architectures, more processing cores and even higher TFLOPS will not always translate to better performance. To help you decide which GPU you need, we have measured frame rates in a number of popular games. For more on how the Radeon HD 6970 stacks up against Radeon R9 280, check out specs charts below.

Radeon HD 6970 Check Price

Radeon R9 280 Check Price

Main Specs

	Radeon HD 6970	Radeon R9 280
Power consumption (TDP)	550 Watt	200 Watt
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type	DDR5	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	3 GB
Display Connectors	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
	Check Price	Check Price

Radeon HD 6970 has 175% more power consumption, than Radeon R9 280.
Radeon HD 6970 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R9 280 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
Radeon R9 280 has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6970.
Both cards are used in Desktops.
Radeon HD 6970 is build with Terascale 2 architecture, and Radeon R9 280 - with GCN 1.0.
Radeon HD 6970 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 280 - by 28 nm process technology.
Radeon R9 280 is 8 mm longer, than Radeon HD 6970.
Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 6970 is 125 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 280.

Game benchmarks


high / 1080p	14−16	35−40
ultra / 1080p	9−10	21−24
QHD / 1440p	3−4	16−18
4K / 2160p	−	10−11
low / 720p	30−35	60−65
medium / 1080p	18−20	40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 140% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
high / 1080p	24−27	55−60
ultra / 1080p	21−24	45−50
QHD / 1440p	7−8	35−40
4K / 2160p	5−6	18−20
low / 720p	50−55	100−110
medium / 1080p	27−30	60−65
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Battlefield 5 is 134% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
low / 768p	45−50	50−55
QHD / 1440p	0−1	0−1
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Call of Duty: Warzone is 10% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
low / 768p	210−220	250−260
medium / 768p	180−190	220−230
ultra / 1080p	95−100	180−190
QHD / 1440p	50−55	110−120
4K / 2160p	30−33	70−75
high / 768p	140−150	210−220
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is 46% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
low / 768p	55−60	60−65
ultra / 1080p	40−45	−
medium / 1080p	45−50	55−60
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Cyberpunk 2077 is 15% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
low / 768p	110−120	120−130
medium / 768p	90−95	110−120
ultra / 1080p	60−65	100−110
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Dota 2 is 27% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
high / 1080p	18−20	45−50
ultra / 1080p	16−18	40−45
QHD / 1440p	−	27−30
4K / 2160p	6−7	14−16
low / 720p	35−40	80−85
medium / 1080p	18−20	45−50
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Far Cry 5 is 147% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
high / 1080p	24−27	60−65
ultra / 1080p	18−20	45−50
QHD / 1440p	16−18	27−30
4K / 2160p	−	27−30
low / 720p	95−100	180−190
medium / 1080p	50−55	110−120
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Fortnite is 107% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
high / 1080p	24−27	60−65
ultra / 1080p	20−22	45−50
QHD / 1440p	9−10	30−35
4K / 2160p	−	24−27
low / 720p	50−55	100−110
medium / 1080p	27−30	65−70
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Forza Horizon 4 is 133% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
low / 768p	85−90	140−150
medium / 768p	75−80	120−130
high / 1080p	30−33	70−75
ultra / 1080p	12−14	30−35
QHD / 1440p	3−4	21−24
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Grand Theft Auto V is 88% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
high / 1080p	9−10	24−27
ultra / 1080p	7−8	20−22
QHD / 1440p	−	16−18
4K / 2160p	2−3	8−9
low / 720p	27−30	65−70
medium / 1080p	12−14	30−35
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Metro Exodus is 158% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
low / 768p	110−120	130−140
ultra / 1080p	100−110	−
medium / 1080p	100−110	120−130
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Minecraft is 18% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
high / 1080p	21−24	−
ultra / 1080p	18−20	14−16
low / 720p	55−60	100−110
medium / 1080p	24−27	18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS is 35% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
high / 1080p	14−16	24−27
ultra / 1080p	9−10	16−18
QHD / 1440p	0−1	10−11
4K / 2160p	−	7−8
low / 720p	27−30	65−70
medium / 1080p	16−18	35−40
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Red Dead Redemption 2 is 111% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
low / 768p	55−60	130−140
medium / 768p	30−35	85−90
high / 1080p	18−20	45−50
ultra / 1080p	10−12	24−27
4K / 2160p	8−9	16−18
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is 148% more, than Radeon HD 6970.
low / 768p	100−110	90−95
medium / 768p	60−65	60−65
ultra / 1080p	35−40	50−55
high / 768p	50−55	60−65
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in World of Tanks is 4% more, than Radeon HD 6970.

Full Specs

	Radeon HD 6970	Radeon R9 280
Architecture	Terascale 2	GCN 1.0
Code name	Cayman	Tahiti
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	14 December 2010	4 March 2014
Pipelines	1536	1792
Boost Clock	880 MHz	933 MHz
Transistor count	2,640 million	4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	28 nm
Texture fill rate	84.48	104.5
Floating-point performance	2,703.4 gflops	3,344 gflops
Length	267 mm	275 mm
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	1375 MHz	1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth		240 GB/s
Shader Model	5.0	5.1
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
Vulkan		+
FreeSync		+
Bus support	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0
HDMI	+	+
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256)	273 Mh/s	408 Mh/s
Eyefinity	+	+
HD3D		+
TrueAudio		+
Design	reference	reference
CrossFire	+	+
DDMA audio		+
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto)		21.5 Mh/s
LiquidVR		+
TressFX		+
UVD		+
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Radeon HD 6970 vs Radeon R9 280

Main Specs

Game benchmarks

Full Specs

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