GeForce GT 720M vs GTX 280M

Place in the ranking	978	1055
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	1.38	2.51
Architecture	Tesla (2006−2010)	Kepler 2.0 (2013−2015)
GPU code name	G92	GK208
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	3 March 2009 (15 years ago)	25 December 2013 (10 years ago)

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	128	192
Core clock speed	585 MHz	719 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	758 MHz
Number of transistors	754 million	915 million
Manufacturing process technology	65 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	75 Watt	33 Watt
Texture fill rate	37.44	12.13
Floating-point processing power	0.3745 TFLOPS	0.2911 TFLOPS
Gigaflops	562	no data
ROPs	16	8
TMUs	64	16

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).

Laptop size	large	medium sized
Bus support	PCI-E 2.0	PCI Express 2.0
Interface	MXM-IV	PCIe 2.0 x8
SLI options	+	-
MXM Type	MXM 3.0 Type-B	no data

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	DDR3
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	2 GB
Standard memory configuration	no data	DDR3
Memory bus width	256 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	Up to 950 MHz	800 MHz
Memory bandwidth	61 GB/s	12.8 GB/s
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	HDMIDual Link DVISingle Link DVIDisplayPortLVDSVGA	No outputs
eDP 1.2 signal support	no data	Up to 2560x1600
LVDS signal support	no data	Up to 1920x1200
VGA аnalog display support	no data	Up to 2048x1536
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support	no data	Up to 2560x1600
HDMI	+	+
HDCP content protection	-	+
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	S/PDIF	no data
7.1 channel HD audio on HDMI	-	+
TrueHD and DTS-HD audio bitstreaming	-	+

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

Blu-Ray 3D Support	-	+
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder	-	+
Optimus	-	+
Power management	8.0	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	12 API
Shader Model	4.0	5.1
OpenGL	2.1	4.5
OpenCL	1.1	1.1
Vulkan	N/A	1.1.126
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 280M 1.49
+25.2%

GT 720M 1.19

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 280M 575
+25%

GT 720M 460

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GTX 280M 6672
+45.5%

GT 720M 4585

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

16−18
+14.3%

−14.3%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

4−5
+33.3%

3−4

−33.3%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 +20%	5−6 −20%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	4−5 −650%	30 +650%
Hitman 3	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 +7.1%	14−16 −7.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +3.1%	30−35 −3.1%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 +20%	5−6 −20%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Hitman 3	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 +7.1%	14−16 −7.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −45.5%	16 +45.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +3.1%	30−35 −3.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 +20%	5−6 −20%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Forza Horizon 4	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Hitman 3	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 +7.1%	14−16 −7.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +3.1%	30−35 −3.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4
+50%

2−3

−50%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	5−6 +25%	4−5 −25%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	7−8 +40%	5−6 −40%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

+0%

4−5

+0%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

1−2

0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	0−1	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4
+50%

2−3

−50%

This is how GTX 280M and GT 720M compete in popular games:

GTX 280M is 14% faster in 1080p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 280M is 300% faster.
in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GT 720M is 650% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GTX 280M is ahead in 28 tests (60%)
GT 720M is ahead in 2 tests (4%)
there's a draw in 17 tests (36%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.49	1.19
Recency	3 March 2009	25 December 2013
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	65 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	75 Watt	33 Watt

GTX 280M has a 25.2% higher aggregate performance score.

GT 720M, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 4 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 132.1% more advanced lithography process, and 127.3% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 280M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 720M in performance tests.

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