Radeon HD 5850 vs Radeon R9 280X

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon R9 280X, 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 5850 stacks up against Radeon R9 280X, check out specs charts below.

Radeon HD 5850 Check Price

Radeon R9 280X Check Price

Main Specs

	Radeon HD 5850	Radeon R9 280X
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	250 Watt
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	3 GB
Display Connectors	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
	Check Price	Check Price

Radeon R9 280X has 65% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 5850.
Radeon HD 5850 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R9 280X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
Radeon R9 280X has 2 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 5850.
Both cards are used in Desktops.
Radeon HD 5850 is build with Terascale 2 architecture, and Radeon R9 280X - with GCN.
Radeon HD 5850 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 280X - by 28 nm process technology.
Radeon R9 280X is 34 mm longer, than Radeon HD 5850.

Game benchmarks


high / 1080p	9−10	35−40
ultra / 1080p	5−6	21−24
QHD / 1440p	0−1	16−18
4K / 2160p	−	10−11
low / 720p	21−24	60−65
medium / 1080p	12−14	40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 241% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
high / 1080p	16−18	55−60
ultra / 1080p	14−16	45−50
QHD / 1440p	0−1	35−40
4K / 2160p	−	18−20
low / 720p	30−35	100−110
medium / 1080p	16−18	60−65
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Battlefield 5 is 240% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
low / 768p	45−50	50−55
QHD / 1440p	0−1	0−1
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Call of Duty: Warzone is 10% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
low / 768p	160−170	250−260
medium / 768p	130−140	220−230
ultra / 1080p	65−70	180−190
QHD / 1440p	40−45	110−120
4K / 2160p	27−30	70−75
high / 768p	100−110	210−220
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is 96% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
low / 768p	55−60	60−65
ultra / 1080p	27−30	−
medium / 1080p	45−50	55−60
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Cyberpunk 2077 is 15% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
low / 768p	90−95	120−130
medium / 768p	70−75	110−120
ultra / 1080p	45−50	100−110
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Dota 2 is 64% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
high / 1080p	10−12	45−50
ultra / 1080p	10−11	40−45
QHD / 1440p	−	27−30
4K / 2160p	4−5	14−16
low / 720p	24−27	80−85
medium / 1080p	12−14	45−50
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Far Cry 5 is 291% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
high / 1080p	18−20	60−65
ultra / 1080p	12−14	45−50
QHD / 1440p	−	27−30
4K / 2160p	−	27−30
low / 720p	70−75	180−190
medium / 1080p	30−35	110−120
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Fortnite is 200% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
high / 1080p	16−18	60−65
ultra / 1080p	14−16	45−50
QHD / 1440p	4−5	30−35
4K / 2160p	−	24−27
low / 720p	35−40	100−110
medium / 1080p	18−20	65−70
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Forza Horizon 4 is 250% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
low / 768p	65−70	140−150
medium / 768p	55−60	120−130
high / 1080p	18−20	70−75
ultra / 1080p	8−9	30−35
QHD / 1440p	0−1	21−24
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Grand Theft Auto V is 144% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
high / 1080p	6−7	24−27
ultra / 1080p	4−5	20−22
QHD / 1440p	−	16−18
4K / 2160p	1−2	8−9
low / 720p	18−20	65−70
medium / 1080p	8−9	30−35
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Metro Exodus is 287% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
low / 768p	100−110	130−140
ultra / 1080p	90−95	−
medium / 1080p	95−100	120−130
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Minecraft is 28% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
high / 1080p	18−20	−
ultra / 1080p	14−16	14−16
low / 720p	40−45	100−110
medium / 1080p	20−22	18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS is 76% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
high / 1080p	12−14	24−27
ultra / 1080p	8−9	16−18
QHD / 1440p	0−1	10−11
4K / 2160p	−	7−8
low / 720p	18−20	65−70
medium / 1080p	12−14	35−40
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Red Dead Redemption 2 is 176% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
low / 768p	35−40	130−140
medium / 768p	21−24	85−90
high / 1080p	12−14	45−50
ultra / 1080p	8−9	24−27
4K / 2160p	7−8	16−18
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is 264% more, than Radeon HD 5850.
low / 768p	90−95	90−95
medium / 768p	50−55	60−65
ultra / 1080p	24−27	50−55
high / 768p	40−45	60−65
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in World of Tanks is 26% more, than Radeon HD 5850.

Full Specs

	Radeon HD 5850	Radeon R9 280X
Architecture	Terascale 2	GCN
Code name	Cypress	Thaiti XTL
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	30 September 2009	8 October 2013
Pipelines	1440	2048
Core clock speed	725 MHz
Boost Clock		1000 MHz
Transistor count	2,154 million	4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	28 nm
Texture fill rate	52.20	128.0
Floating-point performance	2,088.0 gflops	4,096 gflops
Length	241 mm	275 mm
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	128.0 GB/s	288 GB/s
Shared memory		-
DirectX	11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model	5.0	5.1
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
Vulkan	N/A	+
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight)		0.5 kh/s
FreeSync		+
Bus support		PCIe 3.0
HDMI		+
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256)		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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Radeon HD 5850 vs Radeon R9 280X

Main Specs

Game benchmarks

Full Specs

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