RTX A3000 Mobile vs Radeon R9 280

Aggregate performance score

R9 280
2014
3 GB GDDR5, 200 Watt
14.39

RTX A3000 Mobile outperforms Radeon R9 280 by a whopping 127% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in performance ranking339154
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation10.99no data
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2012−2020)Ampere (2020−2022)
GPU code nameTahitiGA104
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date4 March 2014 (10 years ago)12 April 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$279 no data
Current price$91 (0.3x MSRP)no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores17924096
Core clock speedno data1080 MHz
Boost clock speed933 MHz1560 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million17,400 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Watt130 Watt (60 - 115 Watt TGP)
Texture fill rate104.5237.6
Floating-point performance3,344 gflopsno data

Form factor & compatibility

Information on Radeon R9 280 and RTX A3000 Mobile compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop sizeno datalarge
Bus supportPCIe 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length275 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pinno 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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount3 GB12 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz14000 MHz
Memory bandwidth240 GB/s336.0 GB/s
Shared memoryno data-

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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortNo outputs
Eyefinity1no data
HDMI+no data
DisplayPort support-no data

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration-no data
CrossFire1no data
Enduro-no data
FreeSync1no data
HD3D+no data
LiquidVR1no data
PowerTune-no data
TressFX1no data
TrueAudio+no data
ZeroCore-no data
UVD+no data
DDMA audio+no data

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1212 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.6
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan+1.2
Mantle-no data
CUDAno data8.6

Synthetic benchmark performance

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


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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.

R9 280 14.39
RTX A3000 Mobile 32.65
+127%

RTX A3000 Mobile outperforms Radeon R9 280 by 127% based on our aggregate benchmark results.


3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

R9 280 8020
RTX A3000 Mobile 19710
+146%

RTX A3000 Mobile outperforms Radeon R9 280 by 146% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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 HD40−45
−145%
98
+145%
1440p18−20
−144%
44
+144%
4K18−21
−156%
46
+156%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
−157%
77
+157%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
−146%
55−60
+146%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−33
−163%
79
+163%
Battlefield 5 45−50
−136%
100−110
+136%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
−148%
65−70
+148%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
−144%
66
+144%
Far Cry 5 30−33
−143%
70−75
+143%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
−137%
80−85
+137%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
−140%
130−140
+140%
Hitman 3 27−30
−148%
65−70
+148%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
−134%
164
+134%
Metro Exodus 40−45
−150%
100−105
+150%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
−137%
80−85
+137%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 70−75
−134%
164
+134%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−133%
93
+133%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
−146%
55−60
+146%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 27−30
−152%
68
+152%
Battlefield 5 45−50
−136%
100−110
+136%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
−148%
65−70
+148%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
−152%
53
+152%
Far Cry 5 30−33
−143%
70−75
+143%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
−137%
80−85
+137%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
−140%
130−140
+140%
Hitman 3 16−18
−144%
39
+144%
Horizon Zero Dawn 55−60
−138%
130−140
+138%
Metro Exodus 21−24
−133%
49
+133%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
−137%
80−85
+137%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 55−60
−144%
134
+144%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 65−70
−132%
151
+132%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−143%
85−90
+143%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
−146%
55−60
+146%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
−143%
51
+143%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
−148%
65−70
+148%
Cyberpunk 2077 18−20
−139%
43
+139%
Far Cry 5 30−33
−143%
70−75
+143%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
−140%
130−140
+140%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
−128%
114
+128%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55
−128%
114
+128%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
−154%
61
+154%
Watch Dogs: Legion 16−18
−144%
39
+144%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
−137%
80−85
+137%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 27−30
−130%
60−65
+130%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−33
−147%
70−75
+147%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−150%
35−40
+150%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
−150%
35−40
+150%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
−129%
45−50
+129%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−11
−170%
27
+170%
Far Cry 5 30−33
−130%
69
+130%
Forza Horizon 4 27−30
−148%
65−70
+148%
Hitman 3 18−20
−128%
40−45
+128%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−33
−130%
65−70
+130%
Metro Exodus 27−30
−130%
60−65
+130%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
−146%
86
+146%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
−144%
40−45
+144%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−11
−170%
27−30
+170%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
−133%
55−60
+133%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
−129%
30−35
+129%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
−170%
27−30
+170%
Hitman 3 10−11
−160%
24−27
+160%
Horizon Zero Dawn 16−18
−150%
40−45
+150%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−150%
24−27
+150%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
−150%
45
+150%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 9−10
−133%
21−24
+133%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 8−9
−138%
18−20
+138%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
−150%
20−22
+150%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−150%
10−11
+150%
Far Cry 5 8−9
−138%
18−20
+138%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
−150%
45−50
+150%
Horizon Zero Dawn 16−18
−150%
40−45
+150%
Metro Exodus 14−16
−136%
30−35
+136%
Watch Dogs: Legion 6−7
−150%
14−16
+150%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
−133%
27−30
+133%

This is how R9 280 and RTX A3000 Mobile compete in popular games:

  • RTX A3000 Mobile is 145% faster in 1080p
  • RTX A3000 Mobile is 144% faster in 1440p
  • RTX A3000 Mobile is 156% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 14.39 32.65
Recency 4 March 2014 12 April 2021
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 12 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt 130 Watt

The RTX A3000 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 280 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon R9 280 is a desktop card while RTX A3000 Mobile is a notebook one.


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

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AMD Radeon R9 280
Radeon R9 280
NVIDIA RTX A3000 Mobile
RTX A3000 Mobile

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.6 377 votes

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3.7 120 votes

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Questions & comments

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