Apple M2 Pro 16-Core GPU vs Radeon R9 280X

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Primary details

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

Place in the ranking352not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation5.45no data
Power efficiency4.15no data
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)no data
GPU code nameTahitino data
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date8 October 2013 (11 years ago)17 January 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$299 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores204816
Boost clock speed1000 MHzno data
Number of transistors4,313 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology28 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)250 Wattno data
Texture fill rate128.0no data
Floating-point processing power4.096 TFLOPSno data
ROPs32no data
TMUs128no 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 sizeno datamedium sized
Bus supportPCIe 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16no data
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 typeGDDR5LPDDR5-6400
Maximum RAM amount3 GBno data
Memory bus width384 Bitno data
Memory bandwidth288 GB/sno data
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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPortno data
Eyefinity+-
HDMI+-
DisplayPort support+-

Supported technologies

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

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

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 12no data
Shader Model5.1no data
OpenGL4.6no data
OpenCL1.2no data
Vulkan+-

Pros & cons summary


Recency 8 October 2013 17 January 2023
Chip lithography 28 nm 5 nm

Apple M2 Pro 16-Core GPU has an age advantage of 9 years, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between Radeon R9 280X and Apple M2 Pro 16-Core GPU. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that Radeon R9 280X is a desktop card while Apple M2 Pro 16-Core GPU 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 280X
Radeon R9 280X
Apple M2 Pro 16-Core GPU
M2 Pro 16-Core GPU

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.


4.1 692 votes

Rate Radeon R9 280X on a scale of 1 to 5:

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3.3 195 votes

Rate Apple M2 Pro 16-Core GPU on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

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