Radeon HD 6970M vs Radeon R9 280X

In this comparison between Radeon HD 6970M 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 Radeon HD 6970M will be the best choice, for others Radeon R9 280X will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon HD 6970M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 6970M 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 HD 6970M here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 6970M Radeon R9 280X
Power consumption (TDP) 75 Watt 250 Watt
Interface MXM-B (3.0) PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
  Check Price Check Price
  • Radeon R9 280X has 233% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 6970M.
  • Radeon HD 6970M is connected by MXM-B (3.0), and Radeon R9 280X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon R9 280X has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6970M.
  • Radeon HD 6970M is used in Laptops, and Radeon R9 280X - in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 6970M is build with Terascale 2 architecture, and Radeon R9 280X - with GCN.
  • Radeon HD 6970M is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 280X - by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 10−12 35−40
ultra / 1080p 6−7 21−24
QHD / 1440p 1−2 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 24−27 60−65
medium / 1080p 14−16 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 227% more, than Radeon HD 6970M.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 6970M Radeon R9 280X
Architecture Terascale 2 GCN
Code name Blackcomb XT Thaiti XTL
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 6 January 2011 8 October 2013
Pipelines 960 2048
Core clock speed 680 MHz
Boost Clock 1000 MHz
Transistor count 1,700 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 32.64 128.0
Floating-point performance 1,305.6 gflops 4,096 gflops
Length 275 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 900 MHz
Memory bandwidth 115.2 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) 118 Mh/s 494 Mh/s
Laptop size large
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 +
  Check Price Check Price