AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480

Comparative analysis of AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 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: Geekbench - OpenCL, CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s), PassMark - G2D Mark, PassMark - G3D Mark, CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (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.

AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2

Videocard is newer: launch date 1 year(s) 5 month(s) later
Around 14% higher core clock speed: 800 MHz vs 700 MHz
5.7x more texture fill rate: 2x 38.4 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 42 billion / sec
4x more pipelines: 2x 960 vs 480
2.3x better floating-point performance: 2x 1,536.0 gflops vs 1,345.0 gflops
2.7x more maximum memory size: 2x 2 GB vs 1536 MB
2.3x more memory clock speed: 4200 MHz vs 1848 MHz (3696 data rate)

Launch date	19 September 2011 vs 26 March 2010
Core clock speed	800 MHz vs 700 MHz
Texture fill rate	2x 38.4 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 42 billion / sec
Pipelines	2x 960 vs 480
Floating-point performance	2x 1,536.0 gflops vs 1,345.0 gflops
Maximum memory size	2x 2 GB vs 1536 MB
Memory clock speed	4200 MHz vs 1848 MHz (3696 data rate)

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480

Around 2% lower typical power consumption: 250 Watt vs 254 Watt
3.3x better performance in Geekbench - OpenCL: 13143 vs 3977
5.4x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s): 4.245 vs 0.789
Around 15% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 430 vs 373
Around 63% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 4121 vs 2534

Specifications (specs)
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	250 Watt vs 254 Watt
Benchmarks
Geekbench - OpenCL	13143 vs 3977
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	4.245 vs 0.789
PassMark - G2D Mark	430 vs 373
PassMark - G3D Mark	4121 vs 2534

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2
GPU 2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480

Geekbench - OpenCL

GPU 1

GPU 2

3977

13143

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

GPU 1

GPU 2

0.789

4.245

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

373

430

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

2534

4121

Name	AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480
Geekbench - OpenCL	3977	13143
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	0.789	4.245
PassMark - G2D Mark	373	430
PassMark - G3D Mark	2534	4121
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)		34.483
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)		706.104
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)		30.405
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)		106.875
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)		5110
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)		3658
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)		3320
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)		5110
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)		3658
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)		3320
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score		0

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480
Essentials
Architecture	TeraScale 2	Fermi
Code name	Barts	GF100
Launch date	19 September 2011	26 March 2010
Place in performance rating	741	742
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Launch price (MSRP)		$499
Price now		$71.99
Value for money (0-100)		61.35
Technical info
Core clock speed	800 MHz	700 MHz
Floating-point performance	2x 1,536.0 gflops	1,345.0 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	40 nm
Pipelines	2x 960	480
Texture fill rate	2x 38.4 GTexel / s billion / sec	42 billion / sec
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	254 Watt	250 Watt
Transistor count	1,700 million	3,100 million
CUDA cores		480
Maximum GPU temperature		105 °C
Video outputs and ports
Display Connectors	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI, Two Dual Link DVI, Mini HDMI
Audio input for HDMI		Internal
HDCP
HDMI
Maximum VGA resolution		2048x1536
Multi monitor support
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors	2x 8-pin	6-pin & 8-pin
Bus support		16x PCI-E 2.0
Height		4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Length		10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)
SLI options		2-way, 3-way
API support
DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	12.0 (11_0)
OpenGL	4.4	4.2
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	2x 2 GB	1536 MB
Memory bandwidth	2x 134.4 GB / s	177.4 GB / s
Memory bus width	2x 256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	4200 MHz	1848 MHz (3696 data rate)
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Shared memory		0
Technologies
3D Vision
CUDA
DirectX 11		DirectX 11
SLI