NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 vs AMD Radeon R9 280X

Comparative analysis of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and AMD Radeon R9 280X videocards for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Technical info, Video outputs and ports, Compatibility, dimensions and requirements, API support, Memory, Technologies. Benchmark videocards performance analysis: PassMark - G3D Mark, PassMark - G2D Mark, Geekbench - OpenCL, CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps), 3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980

AMD Radeon R9 280X

Differences

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980

Videocard is newer: launch date 11 month(s) later
Around 22% higher boost clock speed: 1216 MHz vs 1000 MHz
Around 13% higher texture fill rate: 144 billion / sec vs 128.0 GTexel / s
Around 22% better floating-point performance: 4,981 gflops vs 4,096 gflops
Around 52% lower typical power consumption: 165 Watt vs 250 Watt
Around 33% higher maximum memory size: 4 GB vs 3 GB
Around 81% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 11113 vs 6150
Around 17% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 791 vs 676
Around 23% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s): 110.006 vs 89.187
Around 20% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s): 9.194 vs 7.656

Specifications (specs)
Launch date	19 September 2014 vs 8 October 2013
Boost clock speed	1216 MHz vs 1000 MHz
Texture fill rate	144 billion / sec vs 128.0 GTexel / s
Floating-point performance	4,981 gflops vs 4,096 gflops
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	165 Watt vs 250 Watt
Maximum memory size	4 GB vs 3 GB
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark	11113 vs 6150
PassMark - G2D Mark	791 vs 676
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)	110.006 vs 89.187
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	9.194 vs 7.656

Reasons to consider the AMD Radeon R9 280X

Around 6% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s): 1434.496 vs 1348.307
2.3x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s): 87.459 vs 37.443
Around 3% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s): 493.57 vs 477.015
Around 1% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames): 3357 vs 3335
Around 1% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps): 3357 vs 3335
4.9x better performance in 3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score: 2351 vs 475

Benchmarks
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)	1434.496 vs 1348.307
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)	87.459 vs 37.443
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)	493.57 vs 477.015
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)	9603 vs 9566
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)	3700 vs 3690
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3357 vs 3335
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)	9603 vs 9566
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)	3700 vs 3690
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3357 vs 3335
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score	2351 vs 475

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
GPU 2: AMD Radeon R9 280X

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

11113

6150

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

791

676

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

110.006

89.187

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

1348.307

1434.496

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

9.194

7.656

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

37.443

87.459

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

477.015

493.57

GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

9566

9603

GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3690

3700

GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3335

3357

GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

9566

9603

GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3690

3700

GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3335

3357

3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score

GPU 1

GPU 2

475

2351

Name	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980	AMD Radeon R9 280X
PassMark - G3D Mark	11113	6150
PassMark - G2D Mark	791	676
Geekbench - OpenCL	34898
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)	110.006	89.187
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)	1348.307	1434.496
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	9.194	7.656
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)	37.443	87.459
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)	477.015	493.57
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)	9566	9603
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)	3690	3700
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3335	3357
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)	9566	9603
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)	3690	3700
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3335	3357
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score	475	2351

Compare specifications (specs)

	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980	AMD Radeon R9 280X
Essentials
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0	GCN 1.0
Code name	GM204	Tahiti
Launch date	19 September 2014	8 October 2013
Launch price (MSRP)	$549	$299
Place in performance rating	379	380
Price now	$605.06
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Value for money (0-100)	21.18
Design		AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
Technical info
Boost clock speed	1216 MHz	1000 MHz
CUDA cores	2048
Floating-point performance	4,981 gflops	4,096 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	28 nm
Pipelines	2048	2048
Texture fill rate	144 billion / sec	128.0 GTexel / s
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	165 Watt	250 Watt
Transistor count	5,200 million	4,313 million
Stream Processors		2048
Video outputs and ports
Audio input for HDMI	Internal
Display Connectors	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort, Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support	1
G-SYNC support
HDCP
HDMI
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536
Multi monitor support
VGA аnalog display support	1
DisplayPort support
Dual-link DVI support
Eyefinity
VGA
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Bus support	PCI Express 3.0	PCIe 3.0
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	10.5" (26.7 cm)	275 mm
Recommended system power (PSU)	500 Watt
SLI options	1
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pins	1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
API support
DirectX	12.0 (12_1)	12
OpenCL	1.2
OpenGL	4.5	4.5
Vulkan
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	3 GB
Memory bandwidth	224 GB / s	288 GB/s
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	7.0 GB/s
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Shared memory	0	0
Technologies
3D Vision
Adaptive Vertical Sync
BatteryBoost
CUDA
GameStream
GameWorks
GeForce Experience
GeForce ShadowPlay
GPU Boost
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder
Optimus
SLI
Surround
AMD Eyefinity
AppAcceleration
CrossFire
DDMA audio
FreeSync
HD3D
LiquidVR
TressFX
TrueAudio
Unified Video Decoder (UVD)