Radeon 740M vs GeForce GTX 280

Place in the ranking	738	505
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.12	no data
Power efficiency	0.97	38.01
Architecture	Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013)	RDNA 3.0 (2022−2024)
GPU code name	GT200	Phoenix
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	16 June 2008 (16 years ago)	4 January 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$649	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	240	256
Core clock speed	602 MHz	800 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2500 MHz
Number of transistors	1,400 million	25,390 million
Manufacturing process technology	65 nm	4 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	236 Watt	15 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	105 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	48.16	40.00
Floating-point processing power	0.6221 TFLOPS	2.56 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	8
TMUs	80	16
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	4

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x8
Length	267 mm	no data
Height	4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	None
SLI options	+	-

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory type	GDDR3	System Shared
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	System Shared
Memory bus width	512 Bit	System Shared
Memory clock speed	1107 MHz	System Shared
Memory bandwidth	141.7 GB/s	no data
Shared memory	-	+

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors	HDTVDual Link DVI	Portable Device Dependent
Multi monitor support	+	no data
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	S/PDIF	no data

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	4.0	6.7
OpenGL	2.1	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	2.1
Vulkan	N/A	1.3
CUDA	+	-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 280 3.34

Radeon 740M 8.31
+149%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 280 1285

Radeon 740M 3199
+149%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD

8−9

−163%

21
+163%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

81.13

no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

14−16

+0%

14−16

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Battlefield 5	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Far Cry 5	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
Hitman 3	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Metro Exodus	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Battlefield 5	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Far Cry 5	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
Hitman 3	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Metro Exodus	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Far Cry 5	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
Hitman 3	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

24−27

+0%

24−27

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Far Cry 5	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Hitman 3	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Metro Exodus	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16

+0%

14−16

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Hitman 3	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Metro Exodus	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10

+0%

9−10

+0%

This is how GTX 280 and Radeon 740M compete in popular games:

Radeon 740M is 163% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	3.34	8.31
Recency	16 June 2008	4 January 2023
Chip lithography	65 nm	4 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	236 Watt	15 Watt

Radeon 740M has a 148.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 14 years, a 1525% more advanced lithography process, and 1473.3% lower power consumption.

The Radeon 740M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 280 in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 280 is a desktop card while Radeon 740M is a notebook one.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.