GeForce 9600 GSO vs Radeon R9 280

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 280 and GeForce 9600 GSO, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 280
2014
3 GB GDDR5, 200 Watt
14.40
+1594%

R9 280 outperforms 9600 GSO by a whopping 1594% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking3601128
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation5.260.09
Power efficiency5.200.73
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code nameTahitiG92
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date4 March 2014 (10 years ago)28 April 2008 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$279 $49.99

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 280 has 5744% better value for money than 9600 GSO.

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 cores179296
Core clock speedno data550 MHz
Boost clock speed933 MHzno data
Number of transistors4,313 million754 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Watt105 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data105 °C
Texture fill rate104.526.40
Floating-point processing power3.344 TFLOPS0.264 TFLOPS
ROPs3212
TMUs11248

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 supportPCIe 3.0PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length275 mm229 mm
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin1x 6-pin
SLI options-2-way

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 typeGDDR5GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount3 GB384 MB
Memory bus width384 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz800 MHz
Memory bandwidth240 GB/s38.4 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortDual Link DVIHDTV
Multi monitor supportno data+
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
Audio input for HDMIno dataS/PDIF

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
HD3D+-
LiquidVR+-
TressFX+-
TrueAudio+-
UVD+-
DDMA audio+no data

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1211.1 (10_0)
Shader Model5.14.0
OpenGL4.62.1
OpenCL1.21.1
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.

R9 280 14.40
+1594%
9600 GSO 0.85

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.

R9 280 5557
+1599%
9600 GSO 327

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 14.40 0.85
Recency 4 March 2014 28 April 2008
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 384 MB
Chip lithography 28 nm 65 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt 105 Watt

R9 280 has a 1594.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 132.1% more advanced lithography process.

9600 GSO, on the other hand, has 90.5% lower power consumption.

The Radeon R9 280 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 9600 GSO in performance tests.


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

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AMD Radeon R9 280
Radeon R9 280
NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GSO
GeForce 9600 GSO

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


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Questions & comments

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