GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB vs Radeon R9 280

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 280 and GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 280
2014
3 GB GDDR5, 200 Watt
14.40

RTX 3050 4 GB outperforms R9 280 by a significant 22% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking360308
Place by popularitynot in top-10026
Cost-effectiveness evaluation5.2636.49
Power efficiency5.2014.05
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameTahitiGA107
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date4 March 2014 (10 years ago)27 January 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$279 $199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 3050 4 GB has 594% better value for money than R9 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 cores17922048
Core clock speedno data1545 MHz
Boost clock speed933 MHz1740 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million8,700 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Watt90 Watt
Texture fill rate104.5111.4
Floating-point processing power3.344 TFLOPS7.127 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs11264
Tensor Coresno data64
Ray Tracing Coresno data16

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 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x8
Length275 mm242 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin1x 6-pin

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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount3 GB4 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth240 GB/s192.0 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-DisplayPort1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++

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® 1212 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.7
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan+1.3
CUDA-8.6

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
RTX 3050 4 GB 17.51
+21.6%

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
RTX 3050 4 GB 6757
+21.6%

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 17.51
Recency 4 March 2014 27 January 2022
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 4 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt 90 Watt

RTX 3050 4 GB has a 21.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 33.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 122.2% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 280 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 RTX 3050 4 GB
GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB

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.


3.6 384 votes

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.