NVIDIA Quadro FX Go540 vs ATI FireGL X3-256

Comparative analysis of NVIDIA Quadro FX Go540 and ATI FireGL X3-256 videocards for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Technical info, Video outputs and ports, Compatibility, dimensions and requirements, API support, Memory.

NVIDIA Quadro FX Go540

ATI FireGL X3-256

Differences

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA Quadro FX Go540

A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running videocard: 110 nm vs 130 nm
2.3x lower typical power consumption: 25 Watt vs 57 Watt

Manufacturing process technology	110 nm vs 130 nm
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	25 Watt vs 57 Watt

Reasons to consider the ATI FireGL X3-256

Around 64% higher core clock speed: 491 MHz vs 300 MHz
2.3x more texture fill rate: 5.4 GTexel / s vs 2.4 GTexel / s
2x more maximum memory size: 256 MB vs 128 MB
2x more memory clock speed: 908 MHz vs 450 MHz

Core clock speed	491 MHz vs 300 MHz
Texture fill rate	5.4 GTexel / s vs 2.4 GTexel / s
Maximum memory size	256 MB vs 128 MB
Memory clock speed	908 MHz vs 450 MHz

Compare specifications (specs)

	NVIDIA Quadro FX Go540	ATI FireGL X3-256
Essentials
Architecture	Curie	R400
Code name	NV43 A4	R420
Launch date	9 August 2004	3 August 2004
Place in performance rating	not rated	not rated
Type	Workstation	Workstation
Launch price (MSRP)		$1,099
Technical info
Core clock speed	300 MHz	491 MHz
Manufacturing process technology	110 nm	130 nm
Texture fill rate	2.4 GTexel / s	5.4 GTexel / s
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	25 Watt	57 Watt
Transistor count	146 million	160 million
Video outputs and ports
Display Connectors	No outputs	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Interface	MXM-II	AGP 8x
Supplementary power connectors		1x Molex
API support
DirectX	9.0c	9.0b
OpenGL	2.1	2.0
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	128 MB	256 MB
Memory bandwidth	7.2 GB / s	28.8 GB / s
Memory bus width	128 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	450 MHz	908 MHz
Memory type	DDR	GDDR3