Radeon RX 6500 vs R9 280

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Radeon HD 7870 XT Radeon HD 7950 Radeon HD 7950 Boost Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition Radeon HD 7950 Monica BIOS 1 Radeon HD 7970 Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Radeon HD 8950 OEM Radeon HD 8970 OEM Radeon R9 280 Radeon R9 280X Radeon R9 280X2
VS
Radeon RX 6500 Radeon RX 6500M Radeon RX 6550M Radeon RX 6550S

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 280 with Radeon RX 6500, including specs and performance data.

R9 280
2014
3 GB GDDR5, 200 Watt
14.44

RX 6500 outperforms R9 280 by a substantial 37% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Contents

R9 280 R9 280
RX 6500 RX 6500

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking374294
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation5.43no data
Power efficiency4.95no data
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)no data
GPU code nameTahitino data
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date4 March 2014 (10 years ago)no data
Launch price (MSRP)$279 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

no data

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 cores1792no data
Boost clock speed933 MHzno data
Number of transistors4,313 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology28 nmno data
Power consumption (TDP)200 Wattno data
Texture fill rate104.5no data
Floating-point processing power3.344 TFLOPSno data
ROPs32no data
TMUs112no 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).

Bus supportPCIe 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16no data
Length275 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pinno 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 typeGDDR5no data
Maximum RAM amount3 GBno data
Memory bus width384 Bitno data
Memory clock speed1250 MHzno data
Memory bandwidth240 GB/sno data

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-DisplayPortno data
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 and SDK compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 12no data
Shader Model5.1no data
OpenGL4.6no data
OpenCL1.2no data
Vulkan+-

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.

R9 280 14.44
RX 6500 19.77
+36.9%

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 5552
RX 6500 7599
+36.9%

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
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Far Cry 5 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Fortnite 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Valorant 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 220−230
+0%
220−230
+0%
Dota 2 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Far Cry 5 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Fortnite 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Metro Exodus 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Valorant 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Dota 2 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Far Cry 5 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Valorant 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

4K
High Preset

Grand Theft Auto V 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Valorant 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Dota 2 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Far Cry 5 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 44 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score 14.44 19.77

RX 6500 has a 36.9% higher aggregate performance score.

The Radeon RX 6500 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 280 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon R9 280 is a desktop card while Radeon RX 6500 is a notebook one.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.

AMD Radeon R9 280
Radeon R9 280
AMD Radeon RX 6500
Radeon RX 6500
Like
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Other comparisons

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

R9 280 Radeon R9 280
vs
HD 7990 Radeon HD 7990
RX 6500 Radeon RX 6500
vs
RX 6500M Radeon RX 6500M
R9 280 Radeon R9 280
vs
GTX 680 GeForce GTX 680
GTX 1050 3 GB GTX 1050 3 GB
vs
R7 260X R7 260X
R5 230 R5 230
vs
R7 260X R7 260X
HD 8670M HD 8670M
vs
R7 260X R7 260X
Iris Xe MAX Graphics Iris Xe MAX Graphics
vs
R7 240 R7 240
GeForce MX110 MX110
vs
R7 260 R7 260
HD 7470 OEM HD 7470 OEM
vs
ATI HD 5850 HD 5850
GeForce 9400 9400
vs
GTS 450 GTS 450
8800M GTX 8800M GTX
vs
GT 430 GT 430
ATI 9500 9500
vs
ATI HD 5850 HD 5850
Iris Xe Graphics 80EU Iris Xe Graphics 80EU
vs
Quadro M2200 M2200

Community ratings

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

3.6 421 vote

Rate Radeon R9 280 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.2 43 votes

Rate Radeon RX 6500 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can give us your opinion about Radeon R9 280 or Radeon RX 6500, agree or disagree with our ratings, or report errors or inaccuracies on the site.