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AMD Radeon R9 280X vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680

Our index puts the AMD Radeon R9 280X roughly 7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680. This is an estimate for ranking, not a measured benchmark, and the gap varies considerably by title and by resolution.

SpecificationAMD Radeon R9 280XNVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
ManufacturerAMDNVIDIA
ArchitectureGCN 1Kepler
Relative performance index47 (better)44
Video memory3 GB (better)2 GB
Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory bus384-bit (better)256-bit
Release year2013 (better)2012
Board power250 W195 W (better)
Suggested PSU600 W550 W (better)
Hardware ray tracingNoNo
Upscaling supportNot recordedNot recorded
DirectX1212

Green marks the stronger figure for that row only — for power draw and PSU requirement, lower is treated as better. Performance indexes are CanMyPcPlay estimates; read how they are derived.

Which should you pick?

  • Check video memory, not just speed. A faster card with less VRAM can perform worse in recent titles at high texture settings.
  • Check power and clearance. Confirm your PSU and case can take the card — the build checker does this.
  • Upscaling support differs. DLSS is NVIDIA-only; FSR and XeSS run more broadly.