HD 6970M vs R9 M280X

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Combined performance score

R9 M280X
2.10

HD 6970M outperforms R9 M280X by 179% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking824555
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for moneyno data1.90
ArchitectureGCN (2011−2017)Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameSaturn XTBlackcomb XT
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 February 2015 (9 years old)6 January 2011 (13 years old)
Current priceno data$257
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores896960
Core clock speed900 MHz680 MHz
Number of transistors2,080 million1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data75-100 Watt
Texture fill rate61.6032.64
Floating-point performance1,792 gflops1,305.6 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on Radeon R9 M280X and Radeon HD 6970M compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop sizelargelarge
Bus supportNot Listedno data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16MXM-B (3.0)
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone

Memory

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 typeNot ListedGDDR5
Maximum RAM amount0 MB2 GB
Memory bus widthNot Listed256 Bit
Memory clock speedno data900 MHz
Memory bandwidth96 GB/s115.2 GB/s
Shared memory--

Video outputs and ports

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 ConnectorsNo outputsNo outputs

Technologies

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

AppAcceleration-no data
Enduro-no data
FreeSync1no data
HD3D+no data
PowerTune+no data
DualGraphics1no data
TrueAudio-no data
ZeroCore+no data
Switchable graphics1no data

API support

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

DirectXDirectX® 1111.2 (11_0)
Shader Model6.35.0
OpenGL4.44.4
OpenCLNot Listed1.2
Vulkanno dataN/A
Mantle+no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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 M280X 2.10
HD 6970M 5.86
+179%

HD 6970M outperforms R9 M280X by 179% in our combined benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

R9 M280X 813
HD 6970M 2270
+179%

HD 6970M outperforms R9 M280X by 179% in Passmark.

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

R9 M280X 9222
HD 6970M 11898
+29%

HD 6970M outperforms R9 M280X by 29% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

R9 M280X 4698
+66.7%
HD 6970M 2819

R9 M280X outperforms HD 6970M by 67% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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:

900p18−20
−189%
52
+189%
Full HD27
−88.9%
51
+88.9%
4K18
−178%
50−55
+178%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−100%
10−11
+100%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−450%
10−12
+450%
Battlefield 5 3−4
−500%
18−20
+500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
−63.6%
18−20
+63.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−100%
10−11
+100%
Far Cry 5 12
−8.3%
12−14
+8.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−1300%
14−16
+1300%
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
−400%
20−22
+400%
Hitman 3 3−4
−367%
14−16
+367%
Horizon Zero Dawn 3−4
−267%
10−12
+267%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−120%
10−12
+120%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
−75%
14−16
+75%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−450%
10−12
+450%
Battlefield 5 3−4
−500%
18−20
+500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
−63.6%
18−20
+63.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−100%
10−11
+100%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−550%
12−14
+550%
Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−1300%
14−16
+1300%
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
−400%
20−22
+400%
Hitman 3 3−4
−367%
14−16
+367%
Horizon Zero Dawn 3−4
−267%
10−12
+267%
Metro Exodus 3−4
−167%
8−9
+167%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−120%
10−12
+120%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
−75%
14−16
+75%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16
+33.3%
12−14
−33.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−450%
10−12
+450%
Battlefield 5 3−4
−500%
18−20
+500%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−100%
10−11
+100%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−550%
12−14
+550%
Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−1300%
14−16
+1300%
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
−400%
20−22
+400%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 9
−33.3%
12−14
+33.3%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
−125%
9−10
+125%
Hitman 3 5−6
−100%
10−11
+100%
Horizon Zero Dawn 9−10
−33.3%
12−14
+33.3%
Metro Exodus 0−1 4−5
Red Dead Redemption 2 1−2
−300%
4−5
+300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6
−80%
9−10
+80%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−200%
9−10
+200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2−3
−150%
5−6
+150%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
−100%
4−5
+100%
Hitman 3 2−3
−200%
6−7
+200%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%

This is how R9 M280X and HD 6970M compete in popular games:

900p resolution:

  • HD 6970M is 189% faster than R9 M280X

1080p resolution:

  • HD 6970M is 88.9% faster than R9 M280X

4K resolution:

  • HD 6970M is 178% faster than R9 M280X

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the R9 M280X is 33.3% faster than the HD 6970M.
  • in Far Cry New Dawn, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the HD 6970M is 1300% faster than the R9 M280X.

All in all, in popular games:

  • R9 M280X is ahead in 1 test (2%)
  • HD 6970M is ahead in 46 tests (96%)
  • there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 2.10 5.86
Recency 1 February 2015 6 January 2011
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm

The Radeon HD 6970M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 M280X in performance tests.


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

User ratings

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


AMD Radeon R9 M280X
Radeon R9 M280X
AMD Radeon HD 6970M
Radeon HD 6970M

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2.7 3 votes

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Questions and comments

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