Radeon HD 8730M vs Radeon R9 280X

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon HD 8730M 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 8730M stacks up against Radeon R9 280X, check out specs charts below.

Radeon HD 8730M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 8730M 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 8730M here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 8730M Radeon R9 280X
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x8 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type DDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 8730M is connected by PCIe 3.0 x8, and Radeon R9 280X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon R9 280X has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 8730M.
  • Radeon HD 8730M is used in Laptops, and Radeon R9 280X - in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 8730M and Radeon R9 280X are build with GCN architecture.
  • Radeon HD 8730M and Radeon R9 280X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 0−1 35−40
ultra / 1080p 21−24
QHD / 1440p 0−1 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 1−2 60−65
medium / 1080p 0−1 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 6100% more, than Radeon HD 8730M.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 8730M Radeon R9 280X
Architecture GCN GCN
Code name Mars Thaiti XTL
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 16 November 2012 8 October 2013
Pipelines 384 2048
Core clock speed 650 MHz
Boost Clock 700 MHz 1000 MHz
Transistor count 950 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 16.80 128.0
Floating-point performance 537.6 gflops 4,096 gflops
Length 275 mm
Memory bus width 128 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 32 GB/s 288 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.1 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan 1.2.131 +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.5 kh/s
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 3.0
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 494 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized
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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