NVIDIA ION LE vs ATI Radeon HD 3870

Comparative analysis of NVIDIA ION LE and ATI Radeon HD 3870 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).

NVIDIA ION LE

ATI Radeon HD 3870

Differences

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA ION LE

Videocard is newer: launch date 6 month(s) later
5.3x lower typical power consumption: 20 Watt vs 106 Watt
Around 68% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 96 vs 57

Specifications (specs)
Launch date	3 June 2008 vs 19 November 2007
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	20 Watt vs 106 Watt
Benchmarks
PassMark - G2D Mark	96 vs 57

Reasons to consider the ATI Radeon HD 3870

Around 73% higher core clock speed: 777 MHz vs 450 MHz
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running videocard: 55 nm vs 65 nm
5.6x better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 552 vs 98

Specifications (specs)
Core clock speed	777 MHz vs 450 MHz
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm vs 65 nm
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark	552 vs 98

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: NVIDIA ION LE
GPU 2: ATI Radeon HD 3870

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

552

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

Name	NVIDIA ION LE	ATI Radeon HD 3870
PassMark - G3D Mark	98	552
PassMark - G2D Mark	96	57
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)		3131
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)		3131

Compare specifications (specs)

	NVIDIA ION LE	ATI Radeon HD 3870
Essentials
Architecture	Tesla	TeraScale
Code name	ION	RV670
Launch date	3 June 2008	19 November 2007
Place in performance rating	1397	1398
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Launch price (MSRP)		$269
Technical info
Core clock speed	450 MHz	777 MHz
Manufacturing process technology	65 nm	55 nm
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	20 Watt	106 Watt
Transistor count	282 million	666 million
Floating-point performance		497.3 gflops
Pipelines		320
Texture fill rate		12.43 GTexel / s
Video outputs and ports
Display Connectors	No outputs	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Interface	PCI	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length		241 mm
Supplementary power connectors		1x 6-pin
API support
DirectX	10.0	10.0
OpenGL	3.3	3.3
Memory
Maximum RAM amount		512 MB
Memory bandwidth		72.1 GB / s
Memory bus width		256 Bit
Memory clock speed		2252 MHz
Memory type		GDDR4