GeForce GTX 280 vs Radeon HD 7970
Aggregate performance score
We've compared Radeon HD 7970 and GeForce GTX 280, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
HD 7970 outperforms GTX 280 by a whopping 304% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 375 | 729 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 2.38 | 0.11 |
| Power efficiency | 3.77 | 0.99 |
| Architecture | GCN 1.0 (2011−2020) | Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013) |
| GPU code name | Tahiti | GT200 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Design | reference | no data |
| Release date | 22 December 2011 (12 years ago) | 16 June 2008 (16 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $549 | $649 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
HD 7970 has 2064% 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 | 2048 | 240 |
| Core clock speed | no data | 602 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 925 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 4,313 million | 1,400 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 65 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 300 Watt | 236 Watt |
| Maximum GPU temperature | no data | 105 °C |
| Texture fill rate | 118.4 | 48.16 |
| Floating-point processing power | 3.789 TFLOPS | 0.6221 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 |
| TMUs | 128 | 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).
| Bus support | PCIe 2.1 x16 | no data |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Length | 274 mm | 267 mm |
| Height | no data | 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm) |
| Width | 2-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | 1x 6-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 | GDDR5 | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 6 GB | 1 GB |
| Memory bus width | 384 Bit | 512 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1375 MHz | 1107 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 264 GB/s | 141.7 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 | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort | HDTVDual Link DVI |
| Multi monitor support | no data | + |
| Eyefinity | + | - |
| HDMI | + | - |
| Maximum VGA resolution | no data | 2048x1536 |
| Audio input for HDMI | no data | S/PDIF |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| CrossFire | + | - |
| FreeSync | + | - |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | DirectX® 11 | 11.1 (10_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 2.1 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| 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.
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.
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 | 105
+338%
| 24−27
−338%
|
| Full HD | 89
+324%
| 21−24
−324%
|
Cost per frame, $
| 1080p | 6.17 | 30.90 |
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 21−24
+320%
|
5−6
−320%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 30−35
+343%
|
7−8
−343%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 21−24
+340%
|
5−6
−340%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 40−45
+340%
|
10−11
−340%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 27−30
+350%
|
6−7
−350%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 21−24
+320%
|
5−6
−320%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 30−35
+357%
|
7−8
−357%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 35−40
+311%
|
9−10
−311%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 85−90
+324%
|
21−24
−324%
|
| Hitman 3 | 24−27
+333%
|
6−7
−333%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 70−75
+338%
|
16−18
−338%
|
| Metro Exodus | 45−50
+360%
|
10−11
−360%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 35−40
+322%
|
9−10
−322%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 40−45
+340%
|
10−11
−340%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 70−75
+311%
|
18−20
−311%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 30−35
+343%
|
7−8
−343%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 21−24
+340%
|
5−6
−340%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 40−45
+340%
|
10−11
−340%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 27−30
+350%
|
6−7
−350%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 21−24
+320%
|
5−6
−320%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 30−35
+357%
|
7−8
−357%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 35−40
+311%
|
9−10
−311%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 85−90
+324%
|
21−24
−324%
|
| Hitman 3 | 24−27
+333%
|
6−7
−333%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 70−75
+338%
|
16−18
−338%
|
| Metro Exodus | 45−50
+360%
|
10−11
−360%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 35−40
+322%
|
9−10
−322%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 40−45
+340%
|
10−11
−340%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 30−35
+313%
|
8−9
−313%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 70−75
+311%
|
18−20
−311%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 30−35
+343%
|
7−8
−343%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 21−24
+340%
|
5−6
−340%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 27−30
+350%
|
6−7
−350%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 21−24
+320%
|
5−6
−320%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 30−35
+357%
|
7−8
−357%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 85−90
+324%
|
21−24
−324%
|
| Hitman 3 | 24−27
+333%
|
6−7
−333%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 70−75
+338%
|
16−18
−338%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 40−45
+340%
|
10−11
−340%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 30−35
+313%
|
8−9
−313%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 70−75
+311%
|
18−20
−311%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 35−40
+322%
|
9−10
−322%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 24−27
+333%
|
6−7
−333%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 21−24
+320%
|
5−6
−320%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 14−16
+367%
|
3−4
−367%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 10−11
+400%
|
2−3
−400%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 14−16
+367%
|
3−4
−367%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 16−18
+433%
|
3−4
−433%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 65−70
+331%
|
16−18
−331%
|
| Hitman 3 | 16−18
+433%
|
3−4
−433%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 27−30
+367%
|
6−7
−367%
|
| Metro Exodus | 21−24
+360%
|
5−6
−360%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 21−24
+360%
|
5−6
−360%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 14−16
+367%
|
3−4
−367%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 80−85
+367%
|
18−20
−367%
|
1440p
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 21−24
+340%
|
5−6
−340%
|
4K
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 12−14
+333%
|
3−4
−333%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 10−11
+400%
|
2−3
−400%
|
| Hitman 3 | 9−10
+350%
|
2−3
−350%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 65−70
+313%
|
16−18
−313%
|
| Metro Exodus | 12−14
+333%
|
3−4
−333%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 12−14
+500%
|
2−3
−500%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2−3 | 0−1 |
| Far Cry 5 | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 18−20
+350%
|
4−5
−350%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 12−14
+500%
|
2−3
−500%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
4K
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 12−14
+500%
|
2−3
−500%
|
This is how HD 7970 and GTX 280 compete in popular games:
- HD 7970 is 338% faster in 900p
- HD 7970 is 324% faster in 1080p
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 13.60 | 3.37 |
| Recency | 22 December 2011 | 16 June 2008 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 6 GB | 1 GB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 65 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 300 Watt | 236 Watt |
HD 7970 has a 303.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 132.1% more advanced lithography process.
GTX 280, on the other hand, has 27.1% lower power consumption.
The Radeon HD 7970 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.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
