NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 vs ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2

Comparative analysis of NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 and ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 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 - Manhattan (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps).

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250

ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2

Differences

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250

Videocard is newer: launch date 1 year(s) 1 month(s) later
2.2x more core clock speed: 1836 MHz vs 825 MHz
Around 10% lower typical power consumption: 150 Watt vs 165 Watt
Around 1% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 591 vs 587

Specifications (specs)
Launch date	4 March 2009 vs 26 January 2008
Core clock speed	1836 MHz vs 825 MHz
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	150 Watt vs 165 Watt
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark	591 vs 587
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3351 vs 3336
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3351 vs 3336

Reasons to consider the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2

4.5x more texture fill rate: 2x 13.2 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 47.2 billion / sec
5x more pipelines: 2x 320 vs 128
2.7x better floating-point performance: 2x 528.0 gflops vs 387.1 gflops
Around 64% higher memory clock speed: 1802 MHz vs 1100 MHz
2.2x better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 117 vs 54

Specifications (specs)
Texture fill rate	2x 13.2 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 47.2 billion / sec
Pipelines	2x 320 vs 128
Floating-point performance	2x 528.0 gflops vs 387.1 gflops
Memory clock speed	1802 MHz vs 1100 MHz
Benchmarks
PassMark - G2D Mark	117 vs 54

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
GPU 2: ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

591

587

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

117

GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3351

3336

GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3351

3336

Name	NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250	ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
PassMark - G3D Mark	591	587
PassMark - G2D Mark	54	117
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)	3108
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)	3108
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3351	3336
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3351	3336

Compare specifications (specs)

	NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250	ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
Essentials
Architecture	Tesla	TeraScale
Code name	G92B	R680
Launch date	4 March 2009	26 January 2008
Launch price (MSRP)	$199	$449
Place in performance rating	1021	1211
Price now	$114.99
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Value for money (0-100)	9.91
Technical info
Core clock speed	1836 MHz	825 MHz
CUDA cores	128
Floating-point performance	387.1 gflops	2x 528.0 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm	55 nm
Maximum GPU temperature	105 °C
Pipelines	128	2x 320
Texture fill rate	47.2 billion / sec	2x 13.2 GTexel / s billion / sec
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	150 Watt	165 Watt
Transistor count	754 million	666 million
Video outputs and ports
Audio input for HDMI	S / PDIF
Display Connectors	2x DVI, Two Dual Link DVI	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
HDMI
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536
Multi monitor support
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Height	4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	9" (228.6 mm) (22.9 cm)	267 mm
SLI options	2-way3-way
Supplementary power connectors	6-pin	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
API support
DirectX	10.0	10.1
OpenGL	3.0	3.3
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	2x 512 MB
Memory bandwidth	70.4 GB / s	2x 57.7 GB / s
Memory bus width	256 Bit	2x 256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1100 MHz	1802 MHz
Memory type	GDDR3	GDDR3
Technologies
3D Vision
CUDA
SLI