GeForce GTX 480 vs Radeon R9 280X

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 480 and Radeon R9 280X 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 GeForce GTX 480 will be the best choice, for others Radeon R9 280X will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 480 Radeon R9 280X
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 250 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 6-pin & 8-pin 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1536 MB 3 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Both graphics cards have the same power consumption of 250 Watt.
  • GeForce GTX 480 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R9 280X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 480 has 1533 GB more memory, than Radeon R9 280X.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 480 is build with Fermi architecture, and Radeon R9 280X - with GCN.
  • GeForce GTX 480 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 280X - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon R9 280X is 265 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 480.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 21−24 35−40
ultra / 1080p 12−14 21−24
QHD / 1440p 6−7 16−18
4K / 2160p 5−6 10−11
low / 720p 40−45 60−65
medium / 1080p 24−27 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 68% more, than GeForce GTX 480.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 480 Radeon R9 280X
Architecture Fermi GCN
Code name GF100 Thaiti XTL
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 7 December 2010 8 October 2013
Pipelines 480 2048
Core clock speed 700 MHz
Boost Clock 1000 MHz
Transistor count 3,100 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 42 billion/sec 128.0
Floating-point performance 1,345.0 gflops 4,096 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm) 275 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 1848 MHz (3696 data rate)
Memory bandwidth 177.4 GB/s 288 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 12 (11_0)
Shader Model 5.1 5.1
OpenGL 4.2 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A +
CUDA +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.5 kh/s
FreeSync +
CUDA cores 480
Bus support 16x PCI-E 2.0 PCIe 3.0
Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support +
HDMI + +
HDCP +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI Internal
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 117 Mh/s 494 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
TrueAudio +
Design reference
DisplayPort support +
CrossFire +
DDMA audio +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 1.07 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 14.42 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 285 Sol/s
AppAcceleration +
LiquidVR +
TressFX +
UVD +
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