Radeon HD 6970 vs R9 280X

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 280X and Radeon HD 6970, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 280X
2013
3 GB GDDR5, 250 Watt
14.83
+106%

R9 280X outperforms HD 6970 by a whopping 106% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking359546
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation5.471.04
Power efficiency4.172.03
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)TeraScale 3 (2010−2013)
GPU code nameTahitiCayman
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferencereference
Release date8 October 2013 (11 years ago)14 December 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$299 $369

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

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

R9 280X has 426% better value for money than HD 6970.

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 cores20481536
Boost clock speed1000 MHz880 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million2,640 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)250 Watt550 Watt
Texture fill rate128.084.48
Floating-point processing power4.096 TFLOPS2.703 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs12896

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 3.0PCIe 2.0 x16
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length275 mm267 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount3 GB2 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speedno data1375 MHz
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 DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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 and SDK compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 12DirectX® 11
Shader Model5.15.0
OpenGL4.64.4
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan+-

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 280X 14.83
+106%
HD 6970 7.20

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 280X 5837
+106%
HD 6970 2834

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 280X 8343
+140%
HD 6970 3470

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 HD65
+117%
30−35
−117%
4K31
+121%
14−16
−121%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.60
+167%
12.30
−167%
4K9.65
+173%
26.36
−173%
  • R9 280X has 167% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • R9 280X has 173% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 35−40
+112%
16−18
−112%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+85.7%
14−16
−85.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+114%
14−16
−114%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 35−40
+112%
16−18
−112%
Battlefield 5 60−65
+103%
30−33
−103%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+85.7%
14−16
−85.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+114%
14−16
−114%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+123%
21−24
−123%
Fortnite 158
+276%
40−45
−276%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+93.5%
30−35
−93.5%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+129%
16−18
−129%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 50−55
+108%
24−27
−108%
Valorant 110−120
+57.3%
75−80
−57.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 35−40
+112%
16−18
−112%
Battlefield 5 60−65
+103%
30−33
−103%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+85.7%
14−16
−85.7%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 190−200
+72.3%
110−120
−72.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+114%
14−16
−114%
Dota 2 90−95
+68.5%
50−55
−68.5%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+123%
21−24
−123%
Fortnite 60
+42.9%
40−45
−42.9%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+93.5%
30−35
−93.5%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+129%
16−18
−129%
Grand Theft Auto V 54
+116%
24−27
−116%
Metro Exodus 30−33
+131%
12−14
−131%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 50−55
+108%
24−27
−108%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 48
+167%
18−20
−167%
Valorant 110−120
+57.3%
75−80
−57.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 60−65
+103%
30−33
−103%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+85.7%
14−16
−85.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+114%
14−16
−114%
Dota 2 137
+154%
50−55
−154%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+123%
21−24
−123%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+93.5%
30−35
−93.5%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+129%
16−18
−129%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 29
+16%
24−27
−16%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 20
+11.1%
18−20
−11.1%
Valorant 110−120
+57.3%
75−80
−57.3%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 48
+14.3%
40−45
−14.3%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 16−18
+88.9%
9−10
−88.9%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 100−110
+100%
50−55
−100%
Grand Theft Auto V 21−24
+156%
9−10
−156%
Metro Exodus 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 130−140
+249%
35−40
−249%
Valorant 140−150
+87.3%
75−80
−87.3%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 40−45
+208%
12−14
−208%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+117%
6−7
−117%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+121%
14−16
−121%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+119%
16−18
−119%
Forza Horizon 5 24−27
+117%
12−14
−117%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
+100%
10−12
−100%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 30−35
+121%
14−16
−121%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 12−14
+100%
6−7
−100%
Counter-Strike 2 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Grand Theft Auto V 24−27
+44.4%
18−20
−44.4%
Metro Exodus 10−11
+400%
2−3
−400%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+280%
5−6
−280%
Valorant 75−80
+123%
35−40
−123%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 20−22
+233%
6−7
−233%
Counter-Strike 2 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Dota 2 68
+172%
24−27
−172%
Far Cry 5 14−16
+114%
7−8
−114%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+127%
10−12
−127%
Forza Horizon 5 12−14
+200%
4−5
−200%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 12−14
+85.7%
7−8
−85.7%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 14−16
+100%
7−8
−100%

This is how R9 280X and HD 6970 compete in popular games:

  • R9 280X is 117% faster in 1080p
  • R9 280X is 121% faster in 4K

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

  • in Counter-Strike 2, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the R9 280X is 500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, R9 280X surpassed HD 6970 in all 67 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 14.83 7.20
Recency 8 October 2013 14 December 2010
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 2 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 550 Watt

R9 280X has a 106% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 42.9% more advanced lithography process, and 120% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 280X is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6970 in performance tests.

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AMD Radeon R9 280X
Radeon R9 280X
AMD Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD 6970

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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4.1 706 votes

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