Radeon R9 280X vs Radeon R9 M280X

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon R9 280X and Radeon R9 M280X, 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 R9 280X stacks up against Radeon R9 M280X, check out specs charts below.

Radeon R9 M280X is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon R9 M280X 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 R9 M280X here:

Main Specs

  Radeon R9 280X Radeon R9 M280X
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 Not Listed
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon R9 280X is used in Desktops, and Radeon R9 M280X - in Laptops.
  • Radeon R9 280X and Radeon R9 M280X are build with GCN architecture.
  • Radeon R9 280X and Radeon R9 M280X are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 2−3
ultra / 1080p 21−24 1−2
QHD / 1440p 16−18 0−1
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 14−16
medium / 1080p 40−45 4−5
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 720% more, than Radeon R9 M280X.

Full Specs

  Radeon R9 280X Radeon R9 M280X
Architecture GCN GCN
Code name Thaiti XTL Saturn XT
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 8 October 2013 1 February 2015
Pipelines 2048 896
Core clock speed 900 MHz
Boost Clock 1000 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million 2,080 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 128.0 61.60
Floating-point performance 4,096 gflops 1,792 gflops
Length 275 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit
Memory bandwidth 288 GB/s 96 GB/s
Shared memory - -
Shader Model 5.1 6.3
OpenGL 4.6 4.4
OpenCL 1.2 Not Listed
Vulkan +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.5 kh/s
FreeSync + +
Bus support PCIe 3.0 Not Listed
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 494 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
HD3D + +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
TrueAudio +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
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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