Graphics card comparison
Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition vs Radeon R9 280X
AMD
Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
3072 Mb GDDR5
Released 22 Jun 2012
DESKTOP
VS
AMD
Radeon R9 280X
3072 Mb GDDR5
Released 8 Oct 2013
DESKTOP
Summary
Synthetic performance index
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition100%
- Radeon R9 280X101%
Relative performance
Gaming performance index
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition100%
- Radeon R9 280X100%
Relative performance
Reasons to consider the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
- Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
- Supports ReLive (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
- Supports Mantle
- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications
Reasons to consider the Radeon R9 280X
- 50 watts lower power draw. This might be a strong point if your current power supply is not enough to handle the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition .
- This is a much newer product, it might have better long term support.
- Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
- Supports ReLive (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
- Supports Mantle
- Based on an outdated architecture (AMD GCN), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications
Our verdict
No clear winner declared
These graphics cards seems to have comparable performance based on the game benchmark suite used (14 combinations of games and resolutions).
Specifications
Core configuration
| Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | Radeon R9 280X |
|---|
| GPU Name | Tahiti (Tahiti XT2) | Tahiti (Tahiti XTL) |
| Fab Process | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Die Size | 352 mm² | 352 mm² |
| Transistors | 4,313 million | 4,313 million |
| Shaders | 2048 | 2048 |
| Compute Units | 32 | 32 |
| Core clock | 1000 MHz | 850 MHz |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 |
| TMUs | 128 | 128 |
Memory configuration
| Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | Radeon R9 280X |
|---|
| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 384 bit | 384 bit |
| Memory Speed | 1500 MHz
6000 MHz effective | 1500 MHz
6000 MHz effective |
| Memory Size | 3072 Mb | 3072 Mb |
Additional details
| Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | Radeon R9 280X |
|---|
| TDP | 300 watts | 250 watts |
| Release Date | 22 Jun 2012 | 8 Oct 2013 |
Raw performance comparison
Pixel Rate
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition32.00 GP/s
- Radeon R9 280X27.20 GP/s
GigaPixels - higher is better
Texel Rate
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition128.00 GT/s
- Radeon R9 280X109.00 GT/s
GigaTexels - higher is better
Memory bandwidth
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition288.00 GB/s
- Radeon R9 280X288.00 GB/s
GB/s - higher is better
Single precision performance
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition4096.00 GFLOPs
- Radeon R9 280X3482.00 GFLOPs
GFLOPs - higher is better
Synthetic benchmarks
3DMark 11
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition10830
- Radeon R9 280X10960
Points (higher is better)
Game benchmarks
Battlefield 4
DX11, Ultra Quality,2x MSAA,16x AF, HBAO
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition71
- Radeon R9 280X72
FPS (higher is better)
Bioshock Infinite
DX11, Ultra Quality,DDOD, FX AA
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition68
- Radeon R9 280X69
FPS (higher is better)
Crysis 3
DX11,Very High Quality, FXAA
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition44
- Radeon R9 280X42
FPS (higher is better)
Hitman Absolution
DX11, High Quality, 2x MSAA, 16x AF
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition71
- Radeon R9 280X69
FPS (higher is better)
Medal Of Honor Warfighter
DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xMSAA
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition65
- Radeon R9 280X67
FPS (higher is better)
Metro Last Light
DX11, AAA standard, 16xAF, Motion Blur normal, Tesselation normal
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition47
- Radeon R9 280X50
FPS (higher is better)
Battlefield Hardline
DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xMSAA,EP3 Gator Bait
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition40
- Radeon R9 280X40
FPS (higher is better)
Grand Theft Auto V
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition64
- Radeon R9 280X63
FPS (higher is better)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
DX11,Max Details, 16:1 HQ-AF, +AA
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition32
- Radeon R9 280X30
FPS (higher is better)
Battlefield Hardline
DX11, Ultra Quality, 4xMSAA,EP3 Gator Bait
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition33
- Radeon R9 280X33
FPS (higher is better)
Bioshock Infinite
DX11, Ultra, DDOD, FXAA
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition45
- Radeon R9 280X48
FPS (higher is better)
Grand Theft Auto V
DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition46
- Radeon R9 280X47
FPS (higher is better)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
DX11,Max Details, 16:1 HQ-AF, +AA
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition26
- Radeon R9 280X25
FPS (higher is better)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
DX11,Max Details, 16:1 HQ-AF, +AA
- Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition16
- Radeon R9 280X16
FPS (higher is better)