ATI Radeon HD 5970 vs NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra

Comparative analysis of ATI Radeon HD 5970 and NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 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 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps), 3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score, GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps).

ATI Radeon HD 5970

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra

Differences

Reasons to consider the ATI Radeon HD 5970

Videocard is newer: launch date 6 year(s) 0 month(s) later
Around 53% higher core clock speed: 725 MHz vs 475 MHz
135.8x more texture fill rate: 2x 58.0 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 1.9 GTexel / s
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running videocard: 40 nm vs 130 nm
8x more maximum memory size: 2 GB vs 256 MB
4.2x more memory clock speed: 4000 MHz vs 950 MHz
38.4x better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 2263 vs 59
Around 52% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 416 vs 274

Specifications (specs)
Launch date	18 November 2009 vs 23 October 2003
Core clock speed	725 MHz vs 475 MHz
Texture fill rate	2x 58.0 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 1.9 GTexel / s
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm vs 130 nm
Maximum memory size	2 GB vs 256 MB
Memory clock speed	4000 MHz vs 950 MHz
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark	2263 vs 59
PassMark - G2D Mark	416 vs 274

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra

4.1x lower typical power consumption: 74 Watt vs 300 Watt

Thermal Design Power (TDP)	74 Watt vs 300 Watt

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: ATI Radeon HD 5970
GPU 2: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

2263

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

416

274

Name	ATI Radeon HD 5970	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
PassMark - G3D Mark	2263	59
PassMark - G2D Mark	416	274
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)	3977
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)	3977
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score	0
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)	3454
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)	3454
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3213
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3213

Compare specifications (specs)

	ATI Radeon HD 5970	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
Essentials
Architecture	TeraScale 2	Rankine
Code name	Hemlock	NV38 A1
Design	ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series
Launch date	18 November 2009	23 October 2003
Launch price (MSRP)	$699	$499
Place in performance rating	616	613
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Technical info
Boost clock speed	725 MHz
Core clock speed	725 MHz	475 MHz
Floating-point performance	2x 2,320.0 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	130 nm
Pipelines	2x 1600
Texture fill rate	2x 58.0 GTexel / s billion / sec	1.9 GTexel / s
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	300 Watt	74 Watt
Transistor count	2,154 million	135 million
Video outputs and ports
Display Connectors	2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort	1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video
DisplayPort support
Dual-link DVI support
VGA
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	AGP 8x
Length	305 mm	229 mm
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	1x Molex
API support
DirectX	11	9.0a
OpenGL	4.4	2.1
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	256 MB
Memory bandwidth	2x 128.0 GB / s	30.4 GB / s
Memory bus width	2x 256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	4000 MHz	950 MHz
Memory type	GDDR5	DDR
Technologies
AMD Eyefinity