Radeon RX 6650 XT vs GeForce GTX 280

Place in the ranking	729	78
Place by popularity	not in top-100	99
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.11	62.41
Power efficiency	0.99	17.55
Architecture	Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	GT200	Navi 23
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	16 June 2008 (16 years ago)	10 May 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$649	$399

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6650 XT has 56636% better value for money than GTX 280.

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	240	2048
Core clock speed	602 MHz	2055 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2635 MHz
Number of transistors	1,400 million	11,060 million
Manufacturing process technology	65 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	236 Watt	176 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	105 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	48.16	337.3
Floating-point processing power	0.6221 TFLOPS	10.79 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	64
TMUs	80	128
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	32

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).

Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x8
Length	267 mm	no data
Height	4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	1x 8-pin
SLI options	+	-

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	GDDR3	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	512 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	1107 MHz	2190 MHz
Memory bandwidth	141.7 GB/s	280.3 GB/s

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	HDTVDual Link DVI	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Multi monitor support	+	no data
HDMI	-	+
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	S/PDIF	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	4.0	6.5
OpenGL	2.1	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	2.1
Vulkan	N/A	1.3
CUDA	+	-

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 280 3.37

RX 6650 XT 44.60
+1223%

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 280 1299

RX 6650 XT 17210
+1225%

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	10−12 −1320%	142 +1320%
1440p	5−6 −1320%	71 +1320%
4K	2−3 −1700%	36 +1700%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	64.90	2.81
1440p	129.80	5.62
4K	324.50	11.08

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

128

+0%

128

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Battlefield 5	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	108 +0%	108 +0%
Far Cry 5	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	200−210 +0%	200−210 +0%
Hitman 3	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	180−190 +0%	180−190 +0%
Metro Exodus	130−140 +0%	130−140 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	100−105 +0%	100−105 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	130−140 +0%	130−140 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Battlefield 5	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	88 +0%	88 +0%
Far Cry 5	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	200−210 +0%	200−210 +0%
Hitman 3	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	180−190 +0%	180−190 +0%
Metro Exodus	130−140 +0%	130−140 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	100−105 +0%	100−105 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	222 +0%	222 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	130−140 +0%	130−140 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	78 +0%	78 +0%
Far Cry 5	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	200−210 +0%	200−210 +0%
Hitman 3	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	173 +0%	173 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	193 +0%	193 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	107 +0%	107 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65 +0%	65 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

100−105

+0%

100−105

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	44 +0%	44 +0%
Far Cry 5	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	240−250 +0%	240−250 +0%
Hitman 3	60−65 +0%	60−65 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	129 +0%	129 +0%
Metro Exodus	114 +0%	114 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	124 +0%	124 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	200−210 +0%	200−210 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

75−80

+0%

75−80

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Hitman 3	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	190−200 +0%	190−200 +0%
Metro Exodus	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	56 +0%	56 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−33 +0%	30−33 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	18 +0%	18 +0%
Far Cry 5	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	60−65 +0%	60−65 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	64 +0%	64 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	23 +0%	23 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

40−45

+0%

40−45

+0%

This is how GTX 280 and RX 6650 XT compete in popular games:

RX 6650 XT is 1320% faster in 1080p
RX 6650 XT is 1320% faster in 1440p
RX 6650 XT is 1700% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	3.37	44.60
Recency	16 June 2008	10 May 2022
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	65 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	236 Watt	176 Watt

RX 6650 XT has a 1223.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 13 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 828.6% more advanced lithography process, and 34.1% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 6650 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 280 in performance tests.

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