GeForce GTX 280M vs ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 and GeForce GTX 280M, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2
2008
512 MB GDDR3, 110 Watt
1.95
+51.2%

ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 outperforms GTX 280M by an impressive 51% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking872996
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency1.411.37
ArchitectureTeraScale (2005−2013)Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code nameM88G92
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 September 2008 (16 years ago)3 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 cores320 ×2128
Core clock speed660 MHz585 MHz
Number of transistors666 million754 million
Manufacturing process technology55 nm65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)110 Watt75 Watt
Texture fill rate10.56 ×237.44
Floating-point processing power0.4224 TFLOPS ×20.3745 TFLOPS
Gigaflopsno data562
ROPs16 ×216
TMUs16 ×264

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 sizelargelarge
Bus supportno dataPCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16MXM-IV
SLI options-+
MXM Typeno dataMXM 3.0 Type-B

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 typeGDDR3GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount512 MB ×21 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit ×2256 Bit
Memory clock speed850 MHzUp to 950 MHz
Memory bandwidth54.4 GB/s ×261 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 ConnectorsNo outputsHDMIDual Link DVISingle Link DVIDisplayPortLVDSVGA
HDMI-+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
Audio input for HDMIno dataS/PDIF

Supported technologies

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

Power managementno data8.0

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX10.1 (10_1)11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model4.14.0
OpenGL3.32.1
OpenCLN/A1.1
VulkanN/AN/A
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.

ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 1.95
+51.2%
GTX 280M 1.29

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.

ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 6895
+3.3%
GTX 280M 6672

Gaming performance

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

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Counter-Strike 2 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Battlefield 5 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%
Counter-Strike 2 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Far Cry 5 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Fortnite 10−11
+150%
4−5
−150%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Forza Horizon 5 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 10−12
+10%
10−11
−10%
Valorant 40−45
+14.3%
35−40
−14.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Battlefield 5 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%
Counter-Strike 2 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 40−45
+35.5%
30−35
−35.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Dota 2 21−24
+27.8%
18−20
−27.8%
Far Cry 5 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Fortnite 10−11
+150%
4−5
−150%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Forza Horizon 5 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Grand Theft Auto V 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Metro Exodus 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 10−12
+10%
10−11
−10%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 7−8
+16.7%
6−7
−16.7%
Valorant 40−45
+14.3%
35−40
−14.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Dota 2 21−24
+27.8%
18−20
−27.8%
Far Cry 5 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 10−12
+10%
10−11
−10%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 7−8
+16.7%
6−7
−16.7%
Valorant 40−45
+14.3%
35−40
−14.3%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 10−11
+150%
4−5
−150%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 2−3 0−1
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 14−16
+66.7%
9−10
−66.7%
Grand Theft Auto V 0−1 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 18−20
+46.2%
12−14
−46.2%
Valorant 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Forza Horizon 4 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 3−4
+50%
2−3
−50%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Valorant 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Dota 2 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Far Cry 5 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 1−2 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 3−4
+50%
2−3
−50%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%

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

  • in Grand Theft Auto V, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 is 400% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 is ahead in 39 tests (89%)
  • there's a draw in 5 tests (11%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 1.95 1.29
Recency 1 September 2008 3 March 2009
Maximum RAM amount 512 MB 1 GB
Chip lithography 55 nm 65 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 110 Watt 75 Watt

ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 has a 51.2% higher aggregate performance score, and a 18.2% more advanced lithography process.

GTX 280M, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 6 months, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and 46.7% lower power consumption.

The Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 280M in performance tests.

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ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2
Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M
GeForce GTX 280M

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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4.1 8 votes

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