GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB vs Radeon R9 280X

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking350not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation5.43no data
Power efficiency4.22no data
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Pascal (2016−2021)
GPU code nameTahitiGP106
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date8 October 2013 (11 years ago)27 June 2017 (7 years 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 cores20481280
Core clock speedno data1265 MHz
Boost clock speed1000 MHz1480 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million4,400 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm16 nm
Power consumption (TDP)250 Watt80 Watt
Texture fill rate128.0118.4
Floating-point processing power4.096 TFLOPSno data
ROPs3248
TMUs12880

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 3.0 x16
Length275 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pinNone

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount3 GB3 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speedno data8008 MHz
Memory bandwidth288 GB/s192.2 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 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® 1212.0
Shader Model5.15.0
OpenGL4.64.5
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan+-
CUDA-6.1

Pros & cons summary


Recency 8 October 2013 27 June 2017
Chip lithography 28 nm 16 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 80 Watt

GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB has an age advantage of 3 years, a 75% more advanced lithography process, and 212.5% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between Radeon R9 280X and GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that Radeon R9 280X is a desktop card while GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB is a notebook one.


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

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon R9 280X
Radeon R9 280X
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB
GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB

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.


4.1 689 votes

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

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.6 72 votes

Rate GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.