Radeon HD 7970 vs Radeon R9 280X

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon R9 280X. Here you can take a closer look at graphics cards specs, such as core clock speed, memory type and size, display connectors, etc. The price, overall benchmark and gaming performances are usually defining factors when it comes to choosing between Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon R9 280X. Make sure that the graphics card has compatible dimensions and will properly fit in your new or current computer case. Also these graphics cards may have different system power recommendations, so take that into consideration and upgrade your PSU if necessary.

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 7970 Radeon R9 280X
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt 250 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 7970 has 20% more power consumption, than Radeon R9 280X.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon R9 280X have maximum RAM of 3 GB.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon R9 280X are build with GCN architecture.
  • Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon R9 280X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon R9 280X is 1 mm longer, than Radeon HD 7970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 35−40
ultra / 1080p 21−24 21−24
QHD / 1440p 16−18 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 60−65
medium / 1080p 40−45 40−45
Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon R9 280X have the same average FPS in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7970 Radeon R9 280X
Architecture GCN GCN
Code name Tahiti XT Thaiti XTL
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 22 December 2011 8 October 2013
Pipelines 2048 2048
Boost Clock 925 MHz 1000 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 118.4 128.0
Floating-point performance 3,789 gflops 4,096 gflops
Length 274 mm 275 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth 264 GB/s 288 GB/s
Shared memory - -
Shader Model 5.1 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.5 kh/s
FreeSync + +
Bus support PCIe 2.1 x16 PCIe 3.0
HDMI + +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 485 Mh/s 494 Mh/s
Eyefinity + +
HD3D +
TrueAudio +
Design reference reference
DisplayPort support +
CrossFire + +
DDMA audio +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 1.07 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 20.71 Mh/s 14.42 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 285 Sol/s
AppAcceleration +
LiquidVR +
TressFX +
UVD +
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