GeForce GTX 280M SLI vs GTX 1060 6 GB
Aggregate performance score
We've compared GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB with GeForce GTX 280M SLI, including specs and performance data.
GTX 1060 6 GB outperforms GTX 280M SLI by a whopping 672% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 202 | 721 |
| Place by popularity | 9 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 16.99 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 15.33 | 1.59 |
| Architecture | Pascal (2016−2021) | G9x (2007−2010) |
| GPU code name | GP106 | N10E-GTX |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Release date | 19 July 2016 (8 years ago) | 2 March 2009 (15 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $299 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
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 cores | 1280 | 256 |
| Core clock speed | 1506 MHz | 585 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1709 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 4,400 million | 1508 Million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 16 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 120 Watt | 150 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 136.7 | no data |
| Floating-point processing power | 4.375 TFLOPS | no data |
| ROPs | 48 | no data |
| TMUs | 80 | no 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 size | no data | large |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | no data |
| Length | 250 mm | no data |
| Width | 2-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin | no 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 type | GDDR5 | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 6 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory bus width | 192 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 2002 MHz | 950 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 192.2 GB/s | no 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 Connectors | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort | no data |
| HDMI | + | - |
| G-SYNC support | + | - |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| VR Ready | + | no data |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 10 |
| Shader Model | 6.4 | no data |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | no data |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | no data |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | - |
| CUDA | 6.1 | + |
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.
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.
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 HD | 87
+770%
| 10−12
−770%
|
| 1440p | 45
+800%
| 5−6
−800%
|
| 4K | 31
+675%
| 4−5
−675%
|
Cost per frame, $
| 1080p | 3.44 | no data |
| 1440p | 6.64 | no data |
| 4K | 9.65 | no data |
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 40−45
+633%
|
6−7
−633%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 72
+620%
|
10−11
−620%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 45−50
+2150%
|
2−3
−2150%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 89
+1383%
|
6−7
−1383%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 66
+725%
|
8−9
−725%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 40−45
+633%
|
6−7
−633%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 83
+1086%
|
7−8
−1086%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 82
+811%
|
9−10
−811%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 279
+1368%
|
18−20
−1368%
|
| Hitman 3 | 50−55
+575%
|
8−9
−575%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 120−130
+404%
|
24−27
−404%
|
| Metro Exodus | 92
+1740%
|
5−6
−1740%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 100
+1150%
|
8−9
−1150%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 135
+938%
|
12−14
−938%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 100−110
+168%
|
40−45
−168%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 93
+830%
|
10−11
−830%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 45−50
+2150%
|
2−3
−2150%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 78
+1200%
|
6−7
−1200%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 60
+650%
|
8−9
−650%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 40−45
+633%
|
6−7
−633%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 64
+814%
|
7−8
−814%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 64
+611%
|
9−10
−611%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 260
+1268%
|
18−20
−1268%
|
| Hitman 3 | 50−55
+575%
|
8−9
−575%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 120−130
+404%
|
24−27
−404%
|
| Metro Exodus | 78
+1460%
|
5−6
−1460%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 69
+763%
|
8−9
−763%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 90−95
+600%
|
12−14
−600%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 183
+1120%
|
14−16
−1120%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 100−110
+168%
|
40−45
−168%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 38
+280%
|
10−11
−280%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 45−50
+2150%
|
2−3
−2150%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 43
+438%
|
8−9
−438%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 40−45
+633%
|
6−7
−633%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 50
+614%
|
7−8
−614%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 73
+284%
|
18−20
−284%
|
| Hitman 3 | 50−55
+575%
|
8−9
−575%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 120−130
+404%
|
24−27
−404%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 90−95
+600%
|
12−14
−600%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 44
+193%
|
14−16
−193%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 100−110
+168%
|
40−45
−168%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 69
+763%
|
8−9
−763%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 48
+700%
|
6−7
−700%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 43
+760%
|
5−6
−760%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 32
+967%
|
3−4
−967%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 24−27
+767%
|
3−4
−767%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 30
+1400%
|
2−3
−1400%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 16−18
+750%
|
2−3
−750%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 31
+675%
|
4−5
−675%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 196 | 0−1 |
| Hitman 3 | 30−35
+300%
|
8−9
−300%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 55−60
+588%
|
8−9
−588%
|
| Metro Exodus | 50
+733%
|
6−7
−733%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 55−60
+743%
|
7−8
−743%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 30−35
+1550%
|
2−3
−1550%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 140−150
+640%
|
20−22
−640%
|
1440p
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 46
+557%
|
7−8
−557%
|
4K
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 24
+1100%
|
2−3
−1100%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 22
+1000%
|
2−3
−1000%
|
| Hitman 3 | 21−24
+950%
|
2−3
−950%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 130−140
+744%
|
16−18
−744%
|
| Metro Exodus | 25
+733%
|
3−4
−733%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 29
+867%
|
3−4
−867%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 18
+800%
|
2−3
−800%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 14−16
+1400%
|
1−2
−1400%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 14
+1300%
|
1−2
−1300%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 7−8 | 0−1 |
| Far Cry 5 | 15
+1400%
|
1−2
−1400%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 38
+3700%
|
1−2
−3700%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 30−35
+725%
|
4−5
−725%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 12−14
+1100%
|
1−2
−1100%
|
4K
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 22
+450%
|
4−5
−450%
|
This is how GTX 1060 6 GB and GTX 280M SLI compete in popular games:
- GTX 1060 6 GB is 770% faster in 1080p
- GTX 1060 6 GB is 800% faster in 1440p
- GTX 1060 6 GB is 675% faster in 4K
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Forza Horizon 4, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 1060 6 GB is 3700% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- Without exception, GTX 1060 6 GB surpassed GTX 280M SLI in all 62 of our tests.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 26.57 | 3.44 |
| Recency | 19 July 2016 | 2 March 2009 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 6 GB | 2 GB |
| Chip lithography | 16 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 120 Watt | 150 Watt |
GTX 1060 6 GB has a 672.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 243.8% more advanced lithography process, and 25% lower power consumption.
The GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 280M SLI in performance tests.
Be aware that GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB is a desktop card while GeForce GTX 280M SLI is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
