NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XE vs ATI FireGL X1-256

Comparative analysis of NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XE and ATI FireGL X1-256 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 - G2D Mark, PassMark - G3D Mark.

NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XE

ATI FireGL X1-256

Differences

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XE

Videocard is newer: launch date 3 year(s) 2 month(s) later
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running videocard: 130 nm vs 150 nm

Launch date	30 September 2005 vs 1 July 2002
Manufacturing process technology	130 nm vs 150 nm

Reasons to consider the ATI FireGL X1-256

Around 18% higher core clock speed: 325 MHz vs 275 MHz
Around 18% higher texture fill rate: 2.6 GTexel / s vs 2.2 GTexel / s
Around 17% higher memory clock speed: 620 MHz vs 532 MHz
Around 1% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 167 vs 166

Specifications (specs)
Core clock speed	325 MHz vs 275 MHz
Texture fill rate	2.6 GTexel / s vs 2.2 GTexel / s
Memory clock speed	620 MHz vs 532 MHz
Benchmarks
PassMark - G2D Mark	167 vs 166

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XE
GPU 2: ATI FireGL X1-256

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

166

167

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

Name	NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XE	ATI FireGL X1-256
PassMark - G2D Mark	166	167
PassMark - G3D Mark	59	59

Compare specifications (specs)

	NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XE	ATI FireGL X1-256
Essentials
Architecture	Curie	Rage 8
Code name	NV40 A1	R300
Launch date	30 September 2005	1 July 2002
Place in performance rating	1021	1023
Type	Desktop	Workstation
Technical info
Core clock speed	275 MHz	325 MHz
Manufacturing process technology	130 nm	150 nm
Texture fill rate	2.2 GTexel / s	2.6 GTexel / s
Transistor count	222 million	110 million
Thermal Design Power (TDP)		37 Watt
Video outputs and ports
Display Connectors	1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Interface	AGP 8x	AGP 8x
Supplementary power connectors	None	None
API support
DirectX	9.0c	9.0
OpenGL	2.1	2.0
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	256 MB	256 MB
Memory bandwidth	8.51 GB / s	19.84 GB / s
Memory bus width	128 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	532 MHz	620 MHz
Memory type	DDR2	DDR