GeForce GTX 280M SLI vs Radeon HD 6990M

Place in the ranking	617	728
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	3.59	1.57
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	G9x (2007−2010)
GPU code name	Blackcomb	N10E-GTX
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	12 July 2011 (13 years ago)	2 March 2009 (15 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	1120	256
Core clock speed	715 MHz	585 MHz
Number of transistors	1,700 million	1508 Million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	150 Watt
Texture fill rate	40.04	no data
Floating-point processing power	1.602 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	32	no data
TMUs	56	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	large	large
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	no data
Supplementary power connectors	None	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	2 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	900 MHz	950 MHz
Memory bandwidth	115.2 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

No outputs

no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	10
Shader Model	5.0	no data
OpenGL	4.4	no data
OpenCL	1.2	no data
Vulkan	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.

HD 6990M 5.24
+52.3%

GTX 280M SLI 3.44

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.

HD 6990M 15113
+60.2%

GTX 280M SLI 9435

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:

900p	54 +54.3%	35−40 −54.3%
Full HD	59 +68.6%	35−40 −68.6%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

9−10
+50%

6−7

−50%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +40%	10−11 −40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%
Battlefield 5	14−16 +133%	6−7 −133%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 +37.5%	8−9 −37.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +50%	6−7 −50%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +57.1%	7−8 −57.1%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 +66.7%	9−10 −66.7%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +73.7%	18−20 −73.7%
Hitman 3	10−12 +37.5%	8−9 −37.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +37.5%	24−27 −37.5%
Metro Exodus	12−14 +160%	5−6 −160%
Red Dead Redemption 2	14−16 +75%	8−9 −75%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +46.2%	12−14 −46.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +17.5%	40−45 −17.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +40%	10−11 −40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%
Battlefield 5	14−16 +133%	6−7 −133%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 +37.5%	8−9 −37.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +50%	6−7 −50%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +57.1%	7−8 −57.1%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 +66.7%	9−10 −66.7%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +73.7%	18−20 −73.7%
Hitman 3	10−12 +37.5%	8−9 −37.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +37.5%	24−27 −37.5%
Metro Exodus	12−14 +160%	5−6 −160%
Red Dead Redemption 2	14−16 +75%	8−9 −75%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +46.2%	12−14 −46.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 +20%	14−16 −20%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +17.5%	40−45 −17.5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +40%	10−11 −40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 +37.5%	8−9 −37.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +50%	6−7 −50%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +57.1%	7−8 −57.1%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +73.7%	18−20 −73.7%
Hitman 3	10−12 +37.5%	8−9 −37.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +37.5%	24−27 −37.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +46.2%	12−14 −46.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 +20%	14−16 −20%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +17.5%	40−45 −17.5%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16
+75%

8−9

−75%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 +66.7%	6−7 −66.7%
Far Cry New Dawn	8−9 +60%	5−6 −60%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 +150%	2−3 −150%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Far Cry 5	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14	0−1
Hitman 3	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 +50%	8−9 −50%
Metro Exodus	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +65%	20−22 −65%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10
+28.6%

7−8

−28.6%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Hitman 3	1−2	0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn	9−10 +80%	5−6 −80%
Metro Exodus	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2	0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Forza Horizon 4	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Watch Dogs: Legion	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7
+50%

4−5

−50%

This is how HD 6990M and GTX 280M SLI compete in popular games:

HD 6990M is 54% faster in 900p
HD 6990M is 69% faster in 1080p

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

in Forza Horizon 4, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 6990M is 300% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

HD 6990M is ahead in 61 test (98%)
there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	5.24	3.44
Recency	12 July 2011	2 March 2009
Chip lithography	40 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	150 Watt

HD 6990M has a 52.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 37.5% more advanced lithography process, and 50% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 6990M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 280M SLI in performance tests.

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