AMD Radeon HD 6870 X2 vs NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

Comparative analysis of AMD Radeon HD 6870 X2 and NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 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: CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s), PassMark - G3D Mark, PassMark - G2D Mark, GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps).

AMD Radeon HD 6870 X2

NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Radeon HD 6870 X2

Videocard is newer: launch date 4 year(s) 2 month(s) later
Around 67% higher core clock speed: 900 MHz vs 540 MHz
29.1x more texture fill rate: 2x 50.4 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 8.6 billion / sec
70x more pipelines: 2x 1120 vs 32
52.9x better floating-point performance: 2x 2,016.0 gflops vs 76.16 gflops
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running videocard: 40 nm vs 80 nm
4x more maximum memory size: 2x 1 GB vs 512 MB
6x more memory clock speed: 4200 MHz vs 700 MHz

Launch date	8 July 2011 vs 17 April 2007
Core clock speed	900 MHz vs 540 MHz
Texture fill rate	2x 50.4 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 8.6 billion / sec
Pipelines	2x 1120 vs 32
Floating-point performance	2x 2,016.0 gflops vs 76.16 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm vs 80 nm
Maximum memory size	2x 1 GB vs 512 MB
Memory clock speed	4200 MHz vs 700 MHz

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

6.4x lower typical power consumption: 47 Watt vs 300 Watt

Thermal Design Power (TDP)	47 Watt vs 300 Watt

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: AMD Radeon HD 6870 X2
GPU 2: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

Name	AMD Radeon HD 6870 X2	NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	1.807
PassMark - G3D Mark		123
PassMark - G2D Mark		43
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)		449
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)		449
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)		1397
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)		1397

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Radeon HD 6870 X2	NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
Essentials
Architecture	TeraScale 2	Tesla
Code name	Barts	G84
Launch date	8 July 2011	17 April 2007
Launch price (MSRP)	$520	$159
Place in performance rating	1622	1624
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Technical info
Core clock speed	900 MHz	540 MHz
Floating-point performance	2x 2,016.0 gflops	76.16 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	80 nm
Pipelines	2x 1120	32
Texture fill rate	2x 50.4 GTexel / s billion / sec	8.6 billion / sec
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	300 Watt	47 Watt
Transistor count	1,700 million	289 million
Video outputs and ports
Display Connectors	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 1.0 x16
Length	304 mm	170 mm
Supplementary power connectors		None
API support
DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	10.0
OpenGL	4.4	2.1
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	2x 1 GB	512 MB
Memory bandwidth	2x 134.4 GB / s	22.4 GB / s
Memory bus width	2x 256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	4200 MHz	700 MHz
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR3
Standard memory config per GPU		256 MB
Technologies
SLI