ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 vs NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2

Comparative analysis of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 and NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 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: PassMark - G3D Mark, PassMark - G2D Mark, GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps).

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2

Differences

Reasons to consider the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2

Videocard is newer: launch date 5 month(s) later
2.7x more texture fill rate: 2x 10.56 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 76.8 billion / sec
2.5x more pipelines: 640 vs 2x 128
Around 10% better floating-point performance: 2x 422.4 gflops vs 2x 384.0 gflops
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running videocard: 55 nm vs 65 nm
Around 79% lower typical power consumption: 110 Watt vs 197 Watt
Around 70% higher memory clock speed: 1700 MHz vs 1000 MHz

Launch date	1 September 2008 vs 18 March 2008
Texture fill rate	2x 10.56 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 76.8 billion / sec
Pipelines	640 vs 2x 128
Floating-point performance	2x 422.4 gflops vs 2x 384.0 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm vs 65 nm
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	110 Watt vs 197 Watt
Memory clock speed	1700 MHz vs 1000 MHz

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2

2.3x more core clock speed: 1500 MHz vs 660 MHz
Around 28% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 613 vs 478
Around 40% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 262 vs 187

Specifications (specs)
Core clock speed	1500 MHz vs 660 MHz
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark	613 vs 478
PassMark - G2D Mark	262 vs 187

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2
GPU 2: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

478

613

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

187

262

Name	ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2	NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2
PassMark - G3D Mark	478	613
PassMark - G2D Mark	187	262
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)		3238
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)		3238

Compare specifications (specs)

	ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2	NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2
Essentials
Architecture	TeraScale	Tesla
Code name	M88	G92
Launch date	1 September 2008	18 March 2008
Place in performance rating	881	882
Type	Laptop	Desktop
Launch price (MSRP)		$599
Technical info
Core clock speed	660 MHz	1500 MHz
Floating-point performance	2x 422.4 gflops	2x 384.0 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm	65 nm
Pipelines	640	2x 128
Texture fill rate	2x 10.56 GTexel / s billion / sec	76.8 billion / sec
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	110 Watt	197 Watt
Transistor count	666 million	754 million
CUDA cores		256 (128 per GPU)
Maximum GPU temperature		105 °C
Video outputs and ports
Display Connectors	No outputs	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, HDMIDual Link DVI
Audio input for HDMI		S / PDIF
HDMI
Maximum VGA resolution		2048x1536
Multi monitor support
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Laptop size	large
Length		10.5" (26.7 cm)
SLI options		Quad
Supplementary power connectors		6-pin & 8-pin
API support
DirectX	10.1	10.0
OpenGL	3.3	2.1
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	2x 512 MB	2x 512 MB
Memory bandwidth	2x 54.4 GB / s	128 (64 per GPU)
Memory bus width	256 Bit	512 Bit
Memory clock speed	1700 MHz	1000 MHz
Memory type	GDDR3	GDDR3
Shared memory	0
Technologies
3D Vision
CUDA
SLI