Radeon RX 7900 XTX vs R9 280

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 280 and Radeon RX 7900 XTX, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 280
2014
3 GB GDDR5, 200 Watt
12.42

RX 7900 XTX outperforms R9 280 by a whopping 459% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking37511
Place by popularitynot in top-10057
Cost-effectiveness evaluation4.6734.87
Power efficiency4.9115.46
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)RDNA 3.0 (2022−2025)
GPU code nameTahitiNavi 31
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date4 March 2014 (11 years ago)3 November 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$279 $999

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

RX 7900 XTX has 647% better value for money than R9 280.

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 cores17926144
Core clock speedno data1929 MHz
Boost clock speed933 MHz2498 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million57,700 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Watt355 Watt
Texture fill rate104.5959.2
Floating-point processing power3.344 TFLOPS61.39 TFLOPS
ROPs32192
TMUs112384
Ray Tracing Coresno data96

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).

Bus supportPCIe 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length275 mm287 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin2x 8-pin

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 GB24 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz2500 MHz
Memory bandwidth240 GB/s960.0 GB/s
Shared memory--
Resizable BAR-+

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-DisplayPort1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB Type-C
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
HD3D+-
LiquidVR+-
TressFX+-
TrueAudio+-
UVD+-
DDMA audio+no data

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1212 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.7
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.22.2
Vulkan+1.3

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.

R9 280 12.42
RX 7900 XTX 69.47
+459%

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.

R9 280 5549
RX 7900 XTX 31047
+460%

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.

R9 280 8020
RX 7900 XTX 64680
+706%

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
−503%
241
+503%
1440p27−30
−500%
162
+500%
4K18−20
−461%
101
+461%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.98
−68.3%
4.15
+68.3%
1440p10.33
−67.6%
6.17
+67.6%
4K15.50
−56.7%
9.89
+56.7%
  • RX 7900 XTX has 68% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • RX 7900 XTX has 68% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • RX 7900 XTX has 57% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 359
+0%
359
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 355
+0%
355
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 250
+0%
250
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 290
+0%
290
+0%
Battlefield 5 190−200
+0%
190−200
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 348
+0%
348
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 240
+0%
240
+0%
Far Cry 5 212
+0%
212
+0%
Fortnite 300−350
+0%
300−350
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 338
+0%
338
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 269
+0%
269
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Valorant 450−500
+0%
450−500
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 199
+0%
199
+0%
Battlefield 5 190−200
+0%
190−200
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 339
+0%
339
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 270−280
+0%
270−280
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 217
+0%
217
+0%
Dota 2 197
+0%
197
+0%
Far Cry 5 205
+0%
205
+0%
Fortnite 300−350
+0%
300−350
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 330
+0%
330
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 254
+0%
254
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 175
+0%
175
+0%
Metro Exodus 239
+0%
239
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 545
+0%
545
+0%
Valorant 450−500
+0%
450−500
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 190−200
+0%
190−200
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 207
+0%
207
+0%
Dota 2 178
+0%
178
+0%
Far Cry 5 189
+0%
189
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 295
+0%
295
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 298
+0%
298
+0%
Valorant 450−500
+0%
450−500
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 300−350
+0%
300−350
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 267
+0%
267
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 500−550
+0%
500−550
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 165
+0%
165
+0%
Metro Exodus 161
+0%
161
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Valorant 450−500
+0%
450−500
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 190−200
+0%
190−200
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 146
+0%
146
+0%
Far Cry 5 187
+0%
187
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 290
+0%
290
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 238
+0%
238
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 67
+0%
67
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 186
+0%
186
+0%
Metro Exodus 108
+0%
108
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 197
+0%
197
+0%
Valorant 300−350
+0%
300−350
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 43
+0%
43
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 73
+0%
73
+0%
Dota 2 159
+0%
159
+0%
Far Cry 5 159
+0%
159
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 227
+0%
227
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%

This is how R9 280 and RX 7900 XTX compete in popular games:

  • RX 7900 XTX is 503% faster in 1080p
  • RX 7900 XTX is 500% faster in 1440p
  • RX 7900 XTX is 461% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 12.42 69.47
Recency 4 March 2014 3 November 2022
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 24 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 5 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt 355 Watt

R9 280 has 77.5% lower power consumption.

RX 7900 XTX, on the other hand, has a 459.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 280 in performance tests.

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AMD Radeon R9 280
Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Radeon RX 7900 XTX

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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