Radeon Vega 7 vs R9 280X

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 280X with Radeon Vega 7, including specs and performance data.

R9 280X
2013
3 GB GDDR5, 250 Watt
15.18
+103%

R9 280X outperforms Vega 7 by a whopping 103% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking352533
Place by popularitynot in top-10012
Cost-effectiveness evaluation5.51no data
Power efficiency4.1911.47
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)GCN 5.1 (2018−2022)
GPU code nameTahitiCezanne
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date8 October 2013 (11 years ago)13 April 2021 (3 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 cores2048448
Core clock speedno data300 MHz
Boost clock speed1000 MHz1900 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million9,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)250 Watt45 Watt
Texture fill rate128.053.20
Floating-point processing power4.096 TFLOPS1.702 TFLOPS
ROPs328
TMUs12828

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 x16IGP
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 typeGDDR5System Shared
Maximum RAM amount3 GBSystem Shared
Memory bus width384 BitSystem Shared
Memory clock speedno dataSystem Shared
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 outputs
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 (12_1)
Shader Model5.16.4
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.22.1
Vulkan+1.2

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. 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 280X 15.18
+103%
Vega 7 7.48

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

R9 280X 10792
+106%
Vega 7 5249

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
+149%
Vega 7 3348

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

R9 280X 52117
+111%
Vega 7 24726

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 HD64
+178%
23
−178%
1440p50−55
+100%
25
−100%
4K33
+120%
15
−120%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.67no data
1440p5.98no data
4K9.06no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+80%
14−16
−80%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+114%
14−16
−114%
Elden Ring 45−50
+229%
14
−229%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+104%
24−27
−104%
Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+80%
14−16
−80%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+114%
14−16
−114%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+114%
29
−114%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+95.2%
21
−95.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+37%
27
−37%
Valorant 60−65
+110%
29
−110%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+104%
24−27
−104%
Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+80%
14−16
−80%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+114%
14−16
−114%
Dota 2 36
+112%
17
−112%
Elden Ring 45−50
+188%
16
−188%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+96.4%
28
−96.4%
Fortnite 80−85
+90.9%
40−45
−90.9%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+158%
24
−158%
Grand Theft Auto V 54
+125%
24−27
−125%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+173%
15
−173%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 100−110
+137%
46
−137%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+76.2%
21−24
−76.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 52
+126%
21−24
−126%
Valorant 60−65
+336%
14
−336%
World of Tanks 190−200
+236%
58
−236%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+104%
24−27
−104%
Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+80%
14−16
−80%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33
+114%
14−16
−114%
Dota 2 137
+111%
65−70
−111%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+66.7%
30−35
−66.7%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+195%
21
−195%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 100−110
+81.7%
60−65
−81.7%
Valorant 60−65
+144%
25
−144%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 21−24
+175%
8−9
−175%
Elden Ring 24−27
+140%
10−11
−140%
Grand Theft Auto V 21−24
+130%
10−11
−130%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 130−140
+111%
65−70
−111%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+117%
6−7
−117%
World of Tanks 100−110
+96.3%
50−55
−96.3%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 30−35
+138%
12−14
−138%
Counter-Strike 2 12−14
+30%
10−11
−30%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
+120%
5−6
−120%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+131%
16−18
−131%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+164%
14−16
−164%
Metro Exodus 30−35
+175%
12−14
−175%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+111%
9−10
−111%
Valorant 35−40
+100%
18−20
−100%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 10−12
+1000%
1−2
−1000%
Dota 2 24−27
+44.4%
18−20
−44.4%
Elden Ring 10−11
+150%
4−5
−150%
Grand Theft Auto V 24−27
+117%
12−14
−117%
Metro Exodus 10−11
+233%
3−4
−233%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+105%
21−24
−105%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+44.4%
18−20
−44.4%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
+133%
6−7
−133%
Counter-Strike 2 10−12
+1000%
1−2
−1000%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Dota 2 68
+127%
30−33
−127%
Far Cry 5 18−20
+111%
9−10
−111%
Fortnite 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
+163%
8−9
−163%
Valorant 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%

This is how R9 280X and Vega 7 compete in popular games:

  • R9 280X is 178% faster in 1080p
  • R9 280X is 100% faster in 1440p
  • R9 280X is 120% 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 1000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, R9 280X surpassed Vega 7 in all 50 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 15.18 7.48
Recency 8 October 2013 13 April 2021
Chip lithography 28 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 45 Watt

R9 280X has a 102.9% higher aggregate performance score.

Vega 7, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 7 years, a 300% more advanced lithography process, and 455.6% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 280X is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon Vega 7 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon R9 280X is a desktop card while Radeon Vega 7 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
AMD Radeon Vega 7
Radeon Vega 7

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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