Radeon HD 7870 vs Radeon R9 280

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon HD 7870 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 7870 stacks up against Radeon R9 280, check out specs charts below.

Radeon HD 7870 Check Price

Radeon R9 280 Check Price

Main Specs

	Radeon HD 7870	Radeon R9 280
Power consumption (TDP)	175 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	2 GB	3 GB
Display Connectors		2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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Radeon R9 280 has 14% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 7870.
Radeon R9 280 has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7870.
Both cards are used in Desktops.
Radeon HD 7870 is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon R9 280 - with GCN 1.0.
Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon R9 280 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 7870 is 3550 MHz higher, than Radeon R9 280.

Game benchmarks


high / 1080p	24−27	35−40
ultra / 1080p	14−16	21−24
QHD / 1440p	9−10	16−18
4K / 2160p	6−7	10−11
low / 720p	45−50	60−65
medium / 1080p	30−33	40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 45% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
high / 1080p	35−40	55−60
ultra / 1080p	30−35	45−50
QHD / 1440p	16−18	35−40
4K / 2160p	10−11	18−20
low / 720p	75−80	100−110
medium / 1080p	40−45	60−65
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Battlefield 5 is 50% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
low / 768p	50−55	50−55
QHD / 1440p	0−1	0−1
Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon R9 280 have the same average FPS in Call of Duty: Warzone.
low / 768p	240−250	250−260
medium / 768p	210−220	220−230
ultra / 1080p	130−140	180−190
QHD / 1440p	100−110	110−120
4K / 2160p	60−65	70−75
high / 768p	180−190	210−220
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is 12% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
low / 768p	60−65	60−65
medium / 1080p	55−60	55−60
Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon R9 280 have the same average FPS in Cyberpunk 2077.
low / 768p	120−130	120−130
medium / 768p	110−120	110−120
ultra / 1080p	85−90	100−110
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Dota 2 is 5% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
high / 1080p	30−33	45−50
ultra / 1080p	27−30	40−45
QHD / 1440p	21−24	27−30
4K / 2160p	9−10	14−16
low / 720p	60−65	80−85
medium / 1080p	30−35	45−50
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Far Cry 5 is 38% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
high / 1080p	35−40	60−65
ultra / 1080p	30−33	45−50
QHD / 1440p	18−20	27−30
4K / 2160p	−	27−30
low / 720p	130−140	180−190
medium / 1080p	80−85	110−120
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Fortnite is 42% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
high / 1080p	40−45	60−65
ultra / 1080p	30−33	45−50
QHD / 1440p	18−20	30−35
4K / 2160p	14−16	24−27
low / 720p	75−80	100−110
medium / 1080p	45−50	65−70
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Forza Horizon 4 is 47% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
low / 768p	110−120	140−150
medium / 768p	100−110	120−130
high / 1080p	45−50	70−75
ultra / 1080p	20−22	30−35
QHD / 1440p	10−11	21−24
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Grand Theft Auto V is 33% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
high / 1080p	14−16	24−27
ultra / 1080p	12−14	20−22
QHD / 1440p	10−12	16−18
4K / 2160p	4−5	8−9
low / 720p	45−50	65−70
medium / 1080p	21−24	30−35
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Metro Exodus is 55% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
low / 768p	120−130	130−140
medium / 1080p	110−120	120−130
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Minecraft is 8% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
ultra / 1080p	14−16	14−16
low / 720p	75−80	100−110
medium / 1080p	18−20	18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS is 24% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
high / 1080p	16−18	24−27
ultra / 1080p	10−12	16−18
QHD / 1440p	4−5	10−11
4K / 2160p	2−3	7−8
low / 720p	45−50	65−70
medium / 1080p	24−27	35−40
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Red Dead Redemption 2 is 50% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
low / 768p	85−90	130−140
medium / 768p	50−55	85−90
high / 1080p	30−33	45−50
ultra / 1080p	16−18	24−27
4K / 2160p	10−11	16−18
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is 58% more, than Radeon HD 7870.
low / 768p	90−95	90−95
medium / 768p	60−65	60−65
ultra / 1080p	45−50	50−55
high / 768p	55−60	60−65
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in World of Tanks is 3% more, than Radeon HD 7870.

Full Specs

	Radeon HD 7870	Radeon R9 280
Architecture	GCN	GCN 1.0
Code name	Pitcairn XT	Tahiti
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	5 March 2012	4 March 2014
Pipelines	1280	1792
Core clock speed	1000 MHz
Boost Clock		933 MHz
Transistor count	2800 Million	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	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	4800 MHz	1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth		240 GB/s
Shared memory	-
DirectX	DirectX 11.1, Shader 5.1
Shader Model		5.1
OpenGL		4.6
OpenCL		1.2
Vulkan		+
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight)	0.39 kh/s
FreeSync		+
Bus support		PCIe 3.0
HDMI		+
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256)		408 Mh/s
Eyefinity	+	+
HD3D		+
TrueAudio		+
Design		reference
CrossFire		+
DDMA audio		+
Decred / DCR (Decred)	0.63 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto)	16.6 Mh/s	21.5 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash)	145 Sol/s
LiquidVR		+
TressFX		+
UVD		+
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Radeon HD 7870 vs Radeon R9 280

Main Specs

Game benchmarks

Full Specs

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