ATI Radeon HD 4870 vs NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX

Comparative analysis of ATI Radeon HD 4870 and NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX 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, GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps).

ATI Radeon HD 4870

NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX

Differences

Reasons to consider the ATI Radeon HD 4870

Videocard is newer: launch date 2 year(s) 3 month(s) later
Around 15% higher core clock speed: 750 MHz vs 650 MHz
Around 92% higher texture fill rate: 30 GTexel / s vs 15.6 GTexel / s
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running videocard: 55 nm vs 90 nm
2.3x more memory clock speed: 3600 MHz vs 1600 MHz
3.6x better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 1380 vs 388
3.3x better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames): 3346 vs 1015
3.3x better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps): 3346 vs 1015

Specifications (specs)
Launch date	25 June 2008 vs 9 March 2006
Core clock speed	750 MHz vs 650 MHz
Texture fill rate	30 GTexel / s vs 15.6 GTexel / s
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm vs 90 nm
Memory clock speed	3600 MHz vs 1600 MHz
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark	1380 vs 388
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3346 vs 1015
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3346 vs 1015

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX

Around 79% lower typical power consumption: 84 Watt vs 150 Watt
3.8x better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 165 vs 44

Specifications (specs)
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	84 Watt vs 150 Watt
Benchmarks
PassMark - G2D Mark	165 vs 44

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: ATI Radeon HD 4870
GPU 2: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

1380

388

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

165

GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3346

1015

GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3346

1015

Name	ATI Radeon HD 4870	NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX
PassMark - G3D Mark	1380	388
PassMark - G2D Mark	44	165
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3346	1015
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3346	1015

Compare specifications (specs)

	ATI Radeon HD 4870	NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX
Essentials
Architecture	TeraScale	Curie
Code name	RV770	G71
Launch date	25 June 2008	9 March 2006
Launch price (MSRP)	$299
Place in performance rating	1330	1332
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Technical info
Core clock speed	750 MHz	650 MHz
Floating-point performance	1,200.0 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm	90 nm
Pipelines	800
Texture fill rate	30 GTexel / s	15.6 GTexel / s
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	150 Watt	84 Watt
Transistor count	956 million	278 million
Video outputs and ports
Display Connectors	2x DVI, 1x S-Video	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 1.0 x16
Length	250 mm
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1x 6-pin
API support
DirectX	10.1	9.0c
OpenGL	3.3	2.1
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	512 MB
Memory bandwidth	115.2 GB / s	51.2 GB / s
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	3600 MHz	1600 MHz
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR3