Radeon R9 280 vs Radeon R9 M390

In this comparison between Radeon R9 280 and Radeon R9 M390 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 R9 280 will be the best choice, for others Radeon R9 M390 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon R9 M390 is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon R9 M390 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 M390 here:

Main Specs

  Radeon R9 280 Radeon R9 M390
Power consumption (TDP) 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 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon R9 280 has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon R9 M390.
  • Radeon R9 280 is used in Desktops, and Radeon R9 M390 - in Laptops.
  • Radeon R9 280 is build with GCN 1.0 architecture, and Radeon R9 M390 - with GCN.
  • Radeon R9 280 and Radeon R9 M390 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 18−20
ultra / 1080p 21−24 10−11
QHD / 1440p 16−18 5−6
4K / 2160p 10−11 4−5
low / 720p 60−65 35−40
medium / 1080p 40−45 21−24
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 100% more, than Radeon R9 M390.

Full Specs

  Radeon R9 280 Radeon R9 M390
Architecture GCN 1.0 GCN
Code name Tahiti Pitcairn
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 4 March 2014 9 June 2015
Pipelines 1792 1024
Boost Clock 933 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million 5000 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 384 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth 240 GB/s
Shared memory -
Shader Model 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.4
OpenCL 1.2 Not Listed
Vulkan +
FreeSync + +
Bus support PCIe 3.0 PCIe 3.0
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 408 Mh/s 242 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity + +
HD3D + +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
TrueAudio +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
Design reference
CrossFire +
DDMA audio +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 21.5 Mh/s
LiquidVR +
TressFX +
UVD +
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