ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 vs GeForce GTX 280M
Aggregate performance score
We've compared GeForce GTX 280M and Mobility Radeon HD 3870, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
GTX 280M outperforms ATI Mobility HD 3870 by a small 7% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 978 | 1005 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Power efficiency | 1.39 | 1.76 |
| Architecture | Tesla (2006−2010) | TeraScale (2005−2013) |
| GPU code name | G92 | M88 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Release date | 3 March 2009 (15 years ago) | 4 June 2008 (16 years ago) |
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 | 128 | 320 |
| Core clock speed | 585 MHz | 660 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 754 million | 666 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 65 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 75 Watt | 55 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 37.44 | 10.56 |
| Floating-point processing power | 0.3745 TFLOPS | 0.4224 TFLOPS |
| Gigaflops | 562 | no data |
| ROPs | 16 | 16 |
| TMUs | 64 | 16 |
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 | large |
| Bus support | PCI-E 2.0 | no data |
| Interface | MXM-IV | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| SLI options | + | - |
| MXM Type | MXM 3.0 Type-B | 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 | GDDR3 | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 512 MB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | Up to 950 MHz | 850 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 61 GB/s | 54.4 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 | HDMIDual Link DVISingle Link DVIDisplayPortLVDSVGA | No outputs |
| HDMI | + | - |
| Maximum VGA resolution | 2048x1536 | no data |
| Audio input for HDMI | S/PDIF | no data |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| Power management | 8.0 | no data |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 11.1 (10_0) | 10.1 (10_1) |
| Shader Model | 4.0 | 4.1 |
| OpenGL | 2.1 | 3.3 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | N/A |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
| 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.
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.
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 6−7
+0%
|
6−7
+0%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 4−5
+33.3%
|
3−4
−33.3%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 4−5
+33.3%
|
3−4
−33.3%
|
| Hitman 3 | 6−7
+0%
|
6−7
+0%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 14−16
+7.1%
|
14−16
−7.1%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 3−4
+50%
|
2−3
−50%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 8−9
+0%
|
8−9
+0%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 6−7
+0%
|
6−7
+0%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 4−5
+33.3%
|
3−4
−33.3%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 4−5
+33.3%
|
3−4
−33.3%
|
| Hitman 3 | 6−7
+0%
|
6−7
+0%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 14−16
+7.1%
|
14−16
−7.1%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 3−4
+50%
|
2−3
−50%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 8−9
+0%
|
8−9
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 10−12
+0%
|
10−12
+0%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 6−7
+0%
|
6−7
+0%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 4−5
+33.3%
|
3−4
−33.3%
|
| Hitman 3 | 6−7
+0%
|
6−7
+0%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 14−16
+7.1%
|
14−16
−7.1%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 8−9
+0%
|
8−9
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 10−12
+0%
|
10−12
+0%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 3−4
+50%
|
2−3
−50%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 2−3
+0%
|
2−3
+0%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 0−1 | 0−1 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
| Hitman 3 | 7−8
+0%
|
7−8
+0%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 5−6
+0%
|
5−6
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 7−8
+16.7%
|
6−7
−16.7%
|
1440p
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 4−5
+0%
|
4−5
+0%
|
4K
High Preset
| Far Cry New Dawn | 1−2 | 0−1 |
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 0−1 | 0−1 |
| Far Cry 5 | 0−1 | 0−1 |
4K
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 3−4
+0%
|
3−4
+0%
|
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Far Cry 5, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GTX 280M is 100% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- GTX 280M is ahead in 17 tests (35%)
- there's a draw in 31 test (65%)
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.49 | 1.39 |
| Recency | 3 March 2009 | 4 June 2008 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 512 MB |
| Chip lithography | 65 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 75 Watt | 55 Watt |
GTX 280M has a 7.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 months, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.
ATI Mobility HD 3870, on the other hand, has a 18.2% more advanced lithography process, and 36.4% lower power consumption.
Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between GeForce GTX 280M and Mobility Radeon HD 3870.
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.
