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GeForce GTX 960 vs Radeon R9 280X
Intro
The GeForce GTX 960 uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 1127 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a speed of 1750 MHz on this model. It features 1024 SPUs along with 64 Texture Address Units and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.Compare those specifications to the Radeon R9 280X, which uses a 28 nm design. AMD has clocked the core frequency at 850 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a frequency of 1500 MHz on this specific card. It features 2048 SPUs along with 128 Texture Address Units and 32 ROPs.
Benchmarks
These are real-world performance benchmarks that were submitted by Hardware Compare users. The scores seen here are the average of all benchmarks submitted for each respective test and hardware.
3DMark Fire Strike Graphics Score
| Radeon R9 280X |
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8886 points |
| GeForce GTX 960 |
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7627 points |
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Zcash Mining Hash Rate
| Radeon R9 280X |
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294 Sol/s |
| GeForce GTX 960 |
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154 Sol/s |
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Ethereum Mining Hash Rate
| Radeon R9 280X |
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21 Mh/s |
| GeForce GTX 960 |
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11 Mh/s |
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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks
Power Consumption (Max TDP)
| GeForce GTX 960 |
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120 Watts |
| Radeon R9 280X |
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250 Watts |
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Memory Bandwidth
Performance-wise, the Radeon R9 280X should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce GTX 960 overall. (explain)
| Radeon R9 280X |
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288000 MB/sec |
| GeForce GTX 960 |
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112000 MB/sec |
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Texel Rate
The Radeon R9 280X is a lot (about 51%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 960. (explain)| Radeon R9 280X |
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108800 Mtexels/sec |
| GeForce GTX 960 |
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72128 Mtexels/sec |
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Pixel Rate
If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 960 is superior to the Radeon R9 280X, by a large margin. (explain)| GeForce GTX 960 |
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36064 Mpixels/sec |
| Radeon R9 280X |
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27200 Mpixels/sec |
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Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.
Price Comparison
GeForce GTX 960Amazon.com
Check prices at:
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Radeon R9 280XAmazon.com
Check prices at:
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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.
Specifications
| Model | GeForce GTX 960 | Radeon R9 280X |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | nVidia | AMD |
| Year | January 2015 | October 2013 |
| Code Name | GM206 | Tahiti XTL |
| Memory | 2048 MB | 3072 MB |
| Core Speed | 1127 MHz | 850 MHz |
| Memory Speed | 7000 MHz | 6000 MHz |
| Power (Max TDP) | 120 watts | 250 watts |
| Bandwidth | 112000 MB/sec | 288000 MB/sec |
| Texel Rate | 72128 Mtexels/sec | 108800 Mtexels/sec |
| Pixel Rate | 36064 Mpixels/sec | 27200 Mpixels/sec |
| Unified Shaders | 1024 | 2048 |
| Texture Mapping Units | 64 | 128 |
| Render Output Units | 32 | 32 |
| Bus Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 128-bit | 384-bit |
| Fab Process | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Transistors | 2940 million | 4313 million |
| Bus | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| DirectX Version | DirectX 12.0 | DirectX 11.2 |
| OpenGL Version | OpenGL 4.5 | OpenGL 4.3 |
Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.
Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.
Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.
GeForce GTX 960Amazon.com
Check prices at:
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Radeon R9 280XAmazon.com
Check prices at:
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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.
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Comments
4 Responses to “GeForce GTX 960 vs Radeon R9 280X”For $50 more(or less), you can get a much much better card with the 280X. Also most 280X's on the market will have a base clock of 950+ MHz. So those looking at the 960 for an entry level card should look at the 280X because for slightly more cash, can get a card that can run most games at 1440p with ease instead of 1080p like the GTX 960.
128-bit and 1024 Unified shaders ("CUDA Cores") is a joke. Another PLACEBO CARD by NVIDIA.
I'm trying to make a PC but I'm not sure which video card to get. Radeon R9 280X or Geforce GTX 960. Any suggestions??
I bought two r9 280x over a year ago. IMHO,They run too hot. One burned out after 9 months. Second getting flaky. Looking to nvidia for cooler running cards. Gtx 960 looks OK. But gtx 970 probably on par or better than r9 280x *and* it runs much cooler (less power~=cooler temps... With same cooling scheme)