Radeon R9 280 vs Radeon RX Vega 9

When choosing between Radeon R9 280 and Radeon RX Vega 9, 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 Radeon R9 280 and Radeon RX Vega 9.

Radeon RX Vega 9 is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon RX Vega 9 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 RX Vega 9 here:

Main Specs

  Radeon R9 280 Radeon RX Vega 9
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon R9 280 is used in Desktops, and Radeon RX Vega 9 - in Laptops.
  • Radeon R9 280 is build with GCN 1.0 architecture, and Radeon RX Vega 9 - with Vega.
  • Radeon R9 280 is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon RX Vega 9 - by 14 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 12−14
ultra / 1080p 21−24 8−9
QHD / 1440p 16−18 2−3
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 27−30
medium / 1080p 40−45 16−18
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 280 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 176% more, than Radeon RX Vega 9.

Full Specs

  Radeon R9 280 Radeon RX Vega 9
Architecture GCN 1.0 Vega
Code name Tahiti Vega Raven Ridge
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 4 March 2014 26 October 2017
Pipelines 1792 576
Boost Clock 933 MHz 1300 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 104.5
Floating-point performance 3,344 gflops
Length 275 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth 240 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX DirectX 12_1
Shader Model 5.1
OpenGL 4.6
OpenCL 1.2
Vulkan +
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 3.0
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 408 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
TrueAudio +
Design reference
CrossFire +
DDMA audio +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 21.5 Mh/s
LiquidVR +
TressFX +
UVD +
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