AMD Radeon R9 M280X vs AMD Radeon R9 M270 vs AMD Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire
AMD Radeon R9 M280X
► remove from comparisonThe AMD Radeon R9 M280X is a 28 nm DirectX 12 graphics card based on the GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture. Built primarily for large laptops, the card is positioned in the upper mid-range category as of 2014. It is based on the Saturn chip (Bonaire codename for Desktop R7 260(X)) and clocked at 900 to 1000 MHz (Boost). The R9 M280X offers 896 shader cores, 56 TMUs, 16 ROPs and a 128 Bit memory interface for up to 4 GB GDDR5 memory (1375 MHz / 5500 MHz effective, 88 GB/s).
The performance of the Radeon R9 M280X is on par with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 850M or GTX 950M. Games from 2015 therefore should run in middle to high settings in 1080p. Some more demanding games like Assassin's Creed Unity may only run fluently in reduced settings.
The 640 shader cores can be used with OpenCL 1.2 for general-purpose calculations (as 10 compute units).
Features of the R9 series include video decoding via UVD3 for decoding MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, and Flash directly from the AMD GPU. Multi-View Codec (MVC) and MPEG-4 part 2 (DivX, xVid) HD videos are now compatible as well.
The Radeon R9 also supports automatic graphics switching between the integrated GPU and discrete GPU, called Enduro. The technology supersedes AMD's Dynamic Switchable Graphics and is similar to Nvidia's Optimus. Other features include ZeroCore for reducing power consumption when the display is turned off .
The Power consumption of the R9 M280X is not specified but should be around 70 to 80 Watt and therefore, the GPU is only suited for larger laptops and DTRs.
AMD Radeon R9 M270
► remove from comparisonThe AMD Radeon R9 M270 is an upper mid-range, DirectX 12-capable graphics card for notebooks. It is manufactured in 28nm and based on the GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture from AMD. The R9 M270 is probably just a renamed Radeon HD 8870M with 640 shader units (725 - 775 MHz) and up to 4 GB of GDDR5 memory (1125 MHz / 4500 MHz effective).
According to this information (not yet officially confirmed), the performance of the R9 M270 should exactly match its predecessor. Thus, the GPU should be somewhat slower than a Nvidia GeForce GTX 760M.
Please note: The technical specifications and clock rates are based on speculation and have not been verified by the manufacturer. The R9 M270 has been first seen in the Lenovo Y40.
AMD Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire
► remove from comparisonThe AMD Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire (also known as CF or CrossFireX) is a combination of two high-end graphics cards for big and heavy laptops. Usually, each single R9 M290X renders a single frame in an alternating manner. Therefore, it may suffer from micro stuttering in low frame rates below 30 FPS due to staggering timespans between two frames (e.g., irregular delays between sequential frames). Compared to the Radeon HD 8970M CF, the R9 M290X CF offers exactly the same amount of shaders and the same clock rates.
The R9 M290X is based on the desktop HD 7870 Pitcairn chip with 1280 1D shaders and 80 texture units. The GCN (graphics core next) architecture supports DirectX 12 (FL 11_1) and OpenGL 4.3. More information on the features of the single R9 M290X can be found on the GPU page.
Performance
The Performance of two R9 M290X GPUs in Crossfire mode is just slightly below the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M SLI, but cannot compete with the GTX 880M SLI. Regardless, modern and demanding games like Battlefield 4 or Metro Last Light are still playable in high resolutions and max. settings with anti-aliasing.
Features
Features of the M290X include the new UVD3 video decoder for decoding MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, Flash, Multi-View Codec (MVC) and MPEG-4 part 2 (DivX, xVid) HD videos directly from the AMD GPU.
The M290 series also supports automatic graphics switching between the integrated GPU and discrete GPU. Called Enduro, the technology supersedes AMD's Dynamic Switchable Graphics and is similar to Nvidia's Optimus. Furthermore, each M290X can directly support up to 6 connected monitors using Eyefinity Technology if Enduro is disabled.
Other features of the M290 series include ZeroCore for reducing power consumption when the display is turned off. Power Gating, however, is not supported according to AMD. PowerTune allows automatic overclocking and underclocking of the graphics card as long as the GPU is within its TDP range. For example, the chip may be underclocked when running FurMark and OCCT, but will overclock in certain games like Lost Planet, Crysis or Resident Evil 5.
The integrated HD audio processor is able to transmit HD Audio (TrueHD or DTS Master Audio) over HDMI and DisplayPort (e.g., for Blu-Ray videos). Additionally, it now allows audio to output simultaneously and in parallel to multiple devices with the new Discrete Digital Multipoint Audio (DDMA) feature.
Power Consumption
The power consumption of the CF combination is very high (2x 100 Watt) and thus only suited for very large desktop replacement laptops.
AMD Radeon R9 M280X | AMD Radeon R9 M270 | AMD Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Radeon R9 M200 Series |
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Codename | Saturn XT | Neptune CF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture | GCN | GCN | GCN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pipelines | 896 - unified | 640 - unified | 2560 - unified | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Core Speed | 900 - 1000 (Boost) MHz | 725 MHz | 850 - 900 (Boost) MHz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory Speed | 5500 MHz | 4500 MHz | 4800 MHz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory Bus Width | 128 Bit | 128 Bit | 2x 256 Bit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Max. Amount of Memory | 4 GB | 4 GB | 2x 4096 MB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shared Memory | no | no | no | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
API | DirectX 12 (FL 12_0), Shader 5.0, OpenGL 4.4 | DirectX 12 (FL 11_1), Shader 5.0, OpenGL 4.2 | DirectX 12 (FL 11_1), Shader 5.0, OpenGL 4.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transistors | 2.1 Billion | 1.5 Billion | 0 Billion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
technology | 28 nm | 28 nm | 28 nm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notebook Size | large | large | large | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of Announcement | 01.02.2015 | 01.04.2014 | 01.03.2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features | OpenCL 1.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Power Consumption | 200 Watt |