GeForce GTX 280M SLI vs GTX 480M
Aggregate performance score
We've compared GeForce GTX 480M and GeForce GTX 280M SLI, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
480M outperforms 280M SLI by a significant 24% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 741 | 790 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Power efficiency | 3.03 | 1.63 |
| Architecture | Fermi (2010−2014) | G9x (2007−2010) |
| GPU code name | GF100 | N10E-GTX |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Release date | 25 May 2010 (15 years ago) | 2 March 2009 (16 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 | 352 | 256 |
| Core clock speed | 425 MHz | 585 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 3,100 million | 1508 Million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 40 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 100 Watt | 150 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 18.70 | no data |
| Floating-point processing power | 0.5984 TFLOPS | no data |
| ROPs | 32 | no data |
| TMUs | 44 | no data |
| L1 Cache | 704 KB | no data |
| L2 Cache | 512 KB | no data |
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 | large |
| Bus support | PCI-E 2.0 | no data |
| Interface | MXM-B (3.0) | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | None | no data |
| 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 | GDDR5 | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1200 MHz | 950 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 76.8 GB/s | no data |
| Shared memory | - | - |
Connectivity and outputs
This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.
| Display Connectors | No outputs | no data |
| Maximum VGA resolution | 2048x1536 | no data |
API and SDK support
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 API | 10 |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | no data |
| OpenGL | 4.5 | no data |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | no data |
| Vulkan | N/A | - |
| CUDA | + | + |
Synthetic benchmarks
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.
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.
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:
| 900p | 33
+37.5%
| 24−27
−37.5%
|
| Full HD | 41
+36.7%
| 30−35
−36.7%
|
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low
| Counter-Strike 2 | 16−18
+45.5%
|
10−12
−45.5%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 8−9
+14.3%
|
7−8
−14.3%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 9−10
+12.5%
|
8−9
−12.5%
|
Full HD
Medium
| Battlefield 5 | 16−18
+33.3%
|
12−14
−33.3%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 16−18
+45.5%
|
10−12
−45.5%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 8−9
+14.3%
|
7−8
−14.3%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 12−14
+33.3%
|
9−10
−33.3%
|
| Fortnite | 21−24
+27.8%
|
18−20
−27.8%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 18−20
+18.8%
|
16−18
−18.8%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 10−12
+37.5%
|
8−9
−37.5%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 9−10
+12.5%
|
8−9
−12.5%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 16−18
+14.3%
|
14−16
−14.3%
|
| Valorant | 50−55
+12.5%
|
45−50
−12.5%
|
Full HD
High
| Battlefield 5 | 16−18
+33.3%
|
12−14
−33.3%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 16−18
+45.5%
|
10−12
−45.5%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 70−75
+18.3%
|
60−65
−18.3%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 8−9
+14.3%
|
7−8
−14.3%
|
| Dota 2 | 35−40
+16.1%
|
30−35
−16.1%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 12−14
+33.3%
|
9−10
−33.3%
|
| Fortnite | 21−24
+27.8%
|
18−20
−27.8%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 18−20
+18.8%
|
16−18
−18.8%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 10−12
+37.5%
|
8−9
−37.5%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 12−14
+33.3%
|
9−10
−33.3%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 9−10
+12.5%
|
8−9
−12.5%
|
| Metro Exodus | 7−8
+16.7%
|
6−7
−16.7%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 16−18
+14.3%
|
14−16
−14.3%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 12−14
+20%
|
10−11
−20%
|
| Valorant | 50−55
+12.5%
|
45−50
−12.5%
|
Full HD
Ultra
| Battlefield 5 | 16−18
+33.3%
|
12−14
−33.3%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 8−9
+14.3%
|
7−8
−14.3%
|
| Dota 2 | 35−40
+16.1%
|
30−35
−16.1%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 12−14
+33.3%
|
9−10
−33.3%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 18−20
+18.8%
|
16−18
−18.8%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 9−10
+12.5%
|
8−9
−12.5%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 16−18
+14.3%
|
14−16
−14.3%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 12−14
+20%
|
10−11
−20%
|
| Valorant | 50−55
+12.5%
|
45−50
−12.5%
|
Full HD
Epic
| Fortnite | 21−24
+27.8%
|
18−20
−27.8%
|
1440p
High
| Counter-Strike 2 | 8−9
+14.3%
|
7−8
−14.3%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 30−33
+25%
|
24−27
−25%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
| Metro Exodus | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 30−35
+14.3%
|
27−30
−14.3%
|
| Valorant | 40−45
+31.3%
|
30−35
−31.3%
|
1440p
Ultra
| Battlefield 5 | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 3−4
+50%
|
2−3
−50%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 7−8
+16.7%
|
6−7
−16.7%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 10−11
+25%
|
8−9
−25%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 4−5
+33.3%
|
3−4
−33.3%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 6−7
+20%
|
5−6
−20%
|
1440p
Epic
| Fortnite | 8−9
+33.3%
|
6−7
−33.3%
|
4K
High
| Grand Theft Auto V | 16−18
+6.7%
|
14−16
−6.7%
|
| Valorant | 20−22
+25%
|
16−18
−25%
|
4K
Ultra
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Dota 2 | 12−14
+30%
|
10−11
−30%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 3−4
+50%
|
2−3
−50%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 5−6
+66.7%
|
3−4
−66.7%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
4K
Epic
| Fortnite | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
This is how GTX 480M and GTX 280M SLI compete in popular games:
- GTX 480M is 38% faster in 900p
- GTX 480M is 37% faster in 1080p
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Grand Theft Auto V, with 1440p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 480M is 100% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- GTX 480M performs better in 55 tests (96%)
- there's a draw in 2 tests (4%)
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 3.95 | 3.18 |
| Recency | 25 May 2010 | 2 March 2009 |
| Chip lithography | 40 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 100 Watt | 150 Watt |
GTX 480M has a 24.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 37.5% more advanced lithography process, and 50% lower power consumption.
The GeForce GTX 480M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 280M SLI in performance tests.
Other comparisons
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
