GeForce GTX 280M vs Radeon R7 M445

Place in the ranking	838	980
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	6.72	1.36
Architecture	GCN 3.0 (2014−2019)	Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code name	Meso	G92
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	15 May 2016 (8 years ago)	3 March 2009 (15 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	320	128
Core clock speed	780 MHz	585 MHz
Boost clock speed	920 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	1,550 million	754 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	15-25 Watt	75 Watt
Texture fill rate	18.40	37.44
Floating-point processing power	0.5888 TFLOPS	0.3745 TFLOPS
Gigaflops	no data	562
ROPs	8	16
TMUs	20	64

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	no data	large
Bus support	no data	PCI-E 2.0
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x8	MXM-IV
SLI options	-	+
MXM Type	no data	MXM 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	1 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1000 MHz	Up to 950 MHz
Memory bandwidth	32 GB/s	61 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	No outputs	HDMIDual Link DVISingle Link DVIDisplayPortLVDSVGA
HDMI	-	+
Maximum VGA resolution	no data	2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI	no data	S/PDIF

Supported technologies

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

Power management

no data

8.0

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model	6.0	4.0
OpenGL	4.6	2.1
OpenCL	2.0	1.1
Vulkan	1.2.131	N/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. 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.

R7 M445 2.45
+64.4%

GTX 280M 1.49

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.

R7 M445 943
+64%

GTX 280M 575

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.

R7 M445 6872
+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.

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

14
+75%

8−9

−75%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

5−6
+25%

4−5

−25%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%
Battlefield 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +25%	4−5 −25%
Far Cry 5	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Hitman 3	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	20−22 +33.3%	14−16 −33.3%
Metro Exodus	1−2	0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2	6−7 +100%	3−4 −100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 +37.5%	8−9 −37.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +12.1%	30−35 −12.1%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%
Battlefield 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +25%	4−5 −25%
Far Cry 5	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Hitman 3	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	20−22 +33.3%	14−16 −33.3%
Metro Exodus	1−2	0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2	6−7 +100%	3−4 −100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 +37.5%	8−9 −37.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +18.2%	10−12 −18.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +12.1%	30−35 −12.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +33.3%	6−7 −33.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +25%	4−5 −25%
Far Cry 5	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Hitman 3	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	20−22 +33.3%	14−16 −33.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 +37.5%	8−9 −37.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5 −120%	10−12 +120%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +12.1%	30−35 −12.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7
+100%

3−4

−100%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	7−8 +40%	5−6 −40%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	14−16 +100%	7−8 −100%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6
+25%

4−5

−25%

4K
High Preset

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

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2	0−1
Far Cry 5	1−2	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	0−1	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

+0%

3−4

+0%

This is how R7 M445 and GTX 280M compete in popular games:

R7 M445 is 75% faster in 1080p

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

in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the R7 M445 is 175% faster.
in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 280M is 120% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

R7 M445 is ahead in 43 tests (88%)
GTX 280M is ahead in 1 test (2%)
there's a draw in 5 tests (10%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	2.45	1.49
Recency	15 May 2016	3 March 2009
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	1 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	15 Watt	75 Watt

R7 M445 has a 64.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 132.1% more advanced lithography process, and 400% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R7 M445 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 280M in performance tests.

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