ATI Radeon 9800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 XT

Comparative analysis of ATI Radeon 9800 XT and NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 XT videocards for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Technical info, Video outputs and ports, Compatibility, dimensions and requirements, API support, Memory. Benchmark videocards performance analysis: PassMark - G3D Mark, PassMark - G2D Mark.

ATI Radeon 9800 XT

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 XT

Differences

Reasons to consider the ATI Radeon 9800 XT

Videocard is newer: launch date 4 month(s) later
Around 3% higher core clock speed: 412 MHz vs 400 MHz
2.1x more texture fill rate: 3.3 GTexel / s vs 1.6 GTexel / s
2x more maximum memory size: 256 MB vs 128 MB
Around 4% higher memory clock speed: 730 MHz vs 700 MHz
Around 43% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 57 vs 40
Around 19% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 160 vs 134

Specifications (specs)
Launch date	1 October 2003 vs 12 May 2003
Core clock speed	412 MHz vs 400 MHz
Texture fill rate	3.3 GTexel / s vs 1.6 GTexel / s
Maximum memory size	256 MB vs 128 MB
Memory clock speed	730 MHz vs 700 MHz
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark	57 vs 40
PassMark - G2D Mark	160 vs 134

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 XT

A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running videocard: 130 nm vs 150 nm
Around 71% lower typical power consumption: 35 Watt vs 60 Watt

Manufacturing process technology	130 nm vs 150 nm
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	35 Watt vs 60 Watt

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: ATI Radeon 9800 XT
GPU 2: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 XT

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

160

134

Name	ATI Radeon 9800 XT	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 XT
PassMark - G3D Mark	57	40
PassMark - G2D Mark	160	134

Compare specifications (specs)

	ATI Radeon 9800 XT	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 XT
Essentials
Architecture	Rage 9	Rankine
Code name	R360	NV35
Launch date	1 October 2003	12 May 2003
Place in performance rating	1080	1229
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Technical info
Core clock speed	412 MHz	400 MHz
Manufacturing process technology	150 nm	130 nm
Texture fill rate	3.3 GTexel / s	1.6 GTexel / s
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	60 Watt	35 Watt
Transistor count	117 million	135 million
Video outputs and ports
Display Connectors	1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video	1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Interface	AGP 8x	AGP 8x
Supplementary power connectors	1x Molex	1x Molex
API support
DirectX	9.0	9.0a
OpenGL	2.0	1.5 (2.1)
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	256 MB	128 MB
Memory bandwidth	23.36 GB / s	22.4 GB / s
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	730 MHz	700 MHz
Memory type	DDR	DDR