Radeon R9 270X vs GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q

Place in the ranking	205	393
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	5.64
Power efficiency	12.30	4.89
Architecture	Pascal (2016−2021)	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code name	GP104	Curacao
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Design	no data	reference
Release date	27 June 2017 (7 years ago)	8 October 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$199

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 cores	2560	1280
Core clock speed	1290 MHz	no data
Boost clock speed	1468 MHz	1050 MHz
Number of transistors	7,200 million	2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	16 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	180 Watt
Texture fill rate	234.9	84.00
Floating-point processing power	7.516 TFLOPS	2.688 TFLOPS
ROPs	64	32
TMUs	160	80

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	large	no data
Bus support	no data	PCIe 3.0
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	2 x 6-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 type	GDDR5X	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	4 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1251 MHz	no data
Memory bandwidth	320.3 GB/s	179.2 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 Connectors	No outputs	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Eyefinity	-	+
HDMI	-	+
DisplayPort support	-	+
G-SYNC 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	+
VR Ready	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	DirectX® 12
Shader Model	6.4	5.1
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
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.

GTX 1080 Max-Q 26.46
+110%

R9 270X 12.62

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.

GTX 1080 Max-Q 10207
+110%

R9 270X 4869

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.

GTX 1080 Max-Q 18192
+177%

R9 270X 6560

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	99 +120%	45−50 −120%
1440p	61 +126%	27−30 −126%
4K	49 +133%	21−24 −133%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	4.42
1440p	no data	7.37
4K	no data	9.48

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

40−45
+115%

20−22

−115%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	78 +169%	27−30 −169%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	45−50 +125%	20−22 −125%
Battlefield 5	116 +190%	40−45 −190%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +116%	24−27 −116%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +115%	20−22 −115%
Far Cry 5	95 +228%	27−30 −228%
Far Cry New Dawn	118 +237%	35−40 −237%
Forza Horizon 4	260 +213%	80−85 −213%
Hitman 3	50−55 +125%	24−27 −125%
Horizon Zero Dawn	120−130 +81.8%	65−70 −81.8%
Metro Exodus	133 +217%	40−45 −217%
Red Dead Redemption 2	65−70 +94.3%	35−40 −94.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	173 +322%	40−45 −322%
Watch Dogs: Legion	100−110 +49.3%	70−75 −49.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	122 +321%	27−30 −321%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	45−50 +125%	20−22 −125%
Battlefield 5	104 +160%	40−45 −160%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +116%	24−27 −116%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +115%	20−22 −115%
Far Cry 5	77 +166%	27−30 −166%
Far Cry New Dawn	89 +154%	35−40 −154%
Forza Horizon 4	240 +189%	80−85 −189%
Hitman 3	50−55 +125%	24−27 −125%
Horizon Zero Dawn	203 +208%	65−70 −208%
Metro Exodus	110 +162%	40−45 −162%
Red Dead Redemption 2	65−70 +94.3%	35−40 −94.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	132 +222%	40−45 −222%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	55−60 +83.9%	30−35 −83.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion	100−110 +49.3%	70−75 −49.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	54 +86.2%	27−30 −86.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	45−50 +125%	20−22 −125%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +116%	24−27 −116%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +115%	20−22 −115%
Far Cry 5	62 +114%	27−30 −114%
Forza Horizon 4	106 +27.7%	80−85 −27.7%
Hitman 3	50−55 +125%	24−27 −125%
Horizon Zero Dawn	107 +62.1%	65−70 −62.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	112 +173%	40−45 −173%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	64 +106%	30−35 −106%
Watch Dogs: Legion	48 −47.9%	70−75 +47.9%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

65−70
+94.3%

35−40

−94.3%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	72 +188%	24−27 −188%
Far Cry New Dawn	58 +205%	18−20 −205%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	43 +258%	12−14 −258%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27 +189%	9−10 −189%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−33 +131%	12−14 −131%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 +183%	6−7 −183%
Far Cry 5	42 +180%	14−16 −180%
Forza Horizon 4	238 +284%	60−65 −284%
Hitman 3	30−35 +100%	16−18 −100%
Horizon Zero Dawn	76 +192%	24−27 −192%
Metro Exodus	67 +219%	21−24 −219%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	81 +305%	20−22 −305%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 +154%	12−14 −154%
Watch Dogs: Legion	140−150 +86.1%	75−80 −86.1%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

40−45
+110%

21−24

−110%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	35 +192%	12−14 −192%
Far Cry New Dawn	32 +256%	9−10 −256%
Hitman 3	21−24 +133%	9−10 −133%
Horizon Zero Dawn	93 +55%	60−65 −55%
Metro Exodus	37 +236%	10−12 −236%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	45 +309%	10−12 −309%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	26 +271%	7−8 −271%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 +133%	6−7 −133%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 +150%	6−7 −150%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +250%	2−3 −250%
Far Cry 5	20 +186%	7−8 −186%
Forza Horizon 4	55 +224%	16−18 −224%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	46 +318%	10−12 −318%
Watch Dogs: Legion	12−14 +140%	5−6 −140%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

21−24
+91.7%

12−14

−91.7%

This is how GTX 1080 Max-Q and R9 270X compete in popular games:

GTX 1080 Max-Q is 120% faster in 1080p
GTX 1080 Max-Q is 126% faster in 1440p
GTX 1080 Max-Q is 133% faster in 4K

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

in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GTX 1080 Max-Q is 322% faster.
in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the R9 270X is 48% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GTX 1080 Max-Q is ahead in 71 test (99%)
R9 270X is ahead in 1 test (1%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	26.46	12.62
Recency	27 June 2017	8 October 2013
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	4 GB
Chip lithography	16 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	180 Watt

GTX 1080 Max-Q has a 109.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 75% more advanced lithography process, and 20% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 270X in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q is a notebook card while Radeon R9 270X is a desktop one.

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