Radeon HD 6990M vs R9 M280X

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 M280X and Radeon HD 6990M, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 M280X
2015
0 MB Not Listed
2.11

HD 6990M outperforms R9 M280X by a whopping 149% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking868613
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiencyno data3.66
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameSaturnBlackcomb
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date5 February 2015 (9 years ago)12 July 2011 (13 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 cores8961120
Core clock speed1000 MHz715 MHz
Number of transistors2,080 million1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data100 Watt
Texture fill rate61.6040.04
Floating-point processing power1.971 TFLOPS1.602 TFLOPS
ROPs1632
TMUs5656

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 sizelargelarge
Bus supportNot Listedno data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16MXM-B (3.0)
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone

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 typeNot ListedGDDR5
Maximum RAM amount0 MB2 GB
Memory bus widthNot Listed256 Bit
Memory clock speedno data900 MHz
Memory bandwidth96 GB/s115.2 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 ConnectorsNo outputsNo outputs

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync+-
HD3D+-
PowerTune+-
DualGraphics+-
ZeroCore+-
Switchable graphics+-

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1111.2 (11_0)
Shader Model6.35.0
OpenGL4.44.4
OpenCLNot Listed1.2
Vulkan-N/A
Mantle+-

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 M280X 2.11
HD 6990M 5.25
+149%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

R9 M280X 4698
+45.6%
HD 6990M 3227

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.

R9 M280X 9222
HD 6990M 15113
+63.9%

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:

900p21−24
−157%
54
+157%
Full HD26
−131%
60
+131%
4K18
−122%
40−45
+122%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−80%
9−10
+80%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−100%
14−16
+100%
Battlefield 5 13
−7.7%
14−16
+7.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6−7
−83.3%
10−12
+83.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−80%
9−10
+80%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−267%
10−12
+267%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−200%
14−16
+200%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
−267%
30−35
+267%
Hitman 3 7−8
−57.1%
10−12
+57.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−83.3%
30−35
+83.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−180%
14−16
+180%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30
+57.9%
18−20
−57.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−30.6%
45−50
+30.6%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−100%
14−16
+100%
Battlefield 5 2−3
−600%
14−16
+600%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6−7
−83.3%
10−12
+83.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−80%
9−10
+80%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−267%
10−12
+267%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−200%
14−16
+200%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
−267%
30−35
+267%
Hitman 3 7−8
−57.1%
10−12
+57.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−83.3%
30−35
+83.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−180%
14−16
+180%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−90%
18−20
+90%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 39
+117%
18−20
−117%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−30.6%
45−50
+30.6%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−100%
14−16
+100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6−7
−83.3%
10−12
+83.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−80%
9−10
+80%
Far Cry 5 3−4
−267%
10−12
+267%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
−267%
30−35
+267%
Hitman 3 7−8
−57.1%
10−12
+57.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
−83.3%
30−35
+83.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−90%
18−20
+90%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 9
−100%
18−20
+100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−30.6%
45−50
+30.6%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−180%
14−16
+180%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 3−4
−233%
10−11
+233%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
−167%
8−9
+167%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−150%
5−6
+150%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
−400%
5−6
+400%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−200%
6−7
+200%
Hitman 3 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 6−7
−100%
12−14
+100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 1−2
−300%
4−5
+300%
Watch Dogs: Legion 12−14
−175%
30−35
+175%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−80%
9−10
+80%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 0−1 4−5
Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%

4K
Ultra Preset

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

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 3−4
−100%
6−7
+100%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 0−1 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Metro Exodus 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%

4K
High Preset

Hitman 3 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Metro Exodus 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%

This is how R9 M280X and HD 6990M compete in popular games:

  • HD 6990M is 157% faster in 900p
  • HD 6990M is 131% faster in 1080p
  • HD 6990M is 122% faster in 4K

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the R9 M280X is 117% faster.
  • in Battlefield 5, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the HD 6990M is 600% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • R9 M280X is ahead in 2 tests (3%)
  • HD 6990M is ahead in 52 tests (79%)
  • there's a draw in 12 tests (18%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 2.11 5.25
Recency 5 February 2015 12 July 2011
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm

R9 M280X has an age advantage of 3 years, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

HD 6990M, on the other hand, has a 148.8% higher aggregate performance score.

The Radeon HD 6990M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 M280X 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 M280X
Radeon R9 M280X
AMD Radeon HD 6990M
Radeon HD 6990M

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.


2.7 3 votes

Rate Radeon R9 M280X on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
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3.6 14 votes

Rate Radeon HD 6990M on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
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  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

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