Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 vs Radeon R9 M280X

When choosing between Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 and Radeon R9 M280X, it is worth examining the specifications of the models in detail. Do they meet the recommended requirements of modern games and software? Storage capacity, form factor, TDP, available ports, warranty and manufacturer support are all important. For example, the size of a PC case can limit the maximum thickness and length of the card. Often, instead of the factory overclocked card and RGB backlight, it is better to choose a reference model with a more efficient GPU. And make sure that your current power supply unit has the correct connection pins (using adapters is not recommended). This GPUs compare tool is meant to help you to choose the best graphics card for your build. Let's find out the difference between Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 and Radeon R9 M280X.

Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 and Radeon R9 M280X are Laptop Graphics Cards

Note: Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 and Radeon R9 M280X are only used in laptop graphics. They have 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 Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 or Radeon R9 M280X here:

Main Specs

  Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 Radeon R9 M280X
Power consumption (TDP) 110 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Memory type GDDR3 Not Listed
Maximum RAM amount 512 MB
Display Connectors No outputs No outputs
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  • Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon R9 M280X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Both cards are used in Laptops.
  • Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 is build with RV6xx architecture, and Radeon R9 M280X - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon R9 M280X is 240 MHz higher, than Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2.
  • Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 is manufactured by 55 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 M280X - by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 6−7 2−3
ultra / 1080p 4−5 1−2
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 16−18 14−16
medium / 1080p 8−9 4−5
The average gaming FPS of Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 80% more, than Radeon R9 M280X.

Full Specs

  Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 Radeon R9 M280X
Architecture RV6xx GCN
Code name M88-XT CF Saturn XT
Type Laptop Laptop
Release date 1 September 2008 1 February 2015
Pipelines 640 896
Core clock speed 660 MHz 900 MHz
Transistor count 666 million 2,080 million
Manufacturing process technology 55 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 10.56 61.60
Floating-point performance 2x 422.4 gflops 1,792 gflops
Memory bus width 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 850 MHz
Memory bandwidth 54.4 GB/s 96 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model 4.1 6.3
OpenGL 3.3 4.4
OpenCL N/A Not Listed
Vulkan N/A
FreeSync +
Bus support Not Listed
Laptop size large large
HD3D +
PowerTune +
DualGraphics +
ZeroCore +
Switchable graphics +
Mantle +
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