ATI Radeon HD 3850 X3 vs ATI FireGL X3-256
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Architecture | R400 (2004−2008) | TeraScale (2005−2013) |
| GPU code name | R420 | RV670 |
| Market segment | Workstation | Desktop |
| Release date | 3 August 2004 (21 years ago) | no data |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1,099 | no data |
Detailed specifications
General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | no data | 320 |
| Core clock speed | 491 MHz | 669 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 160 million | 666 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 130 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 57 Watt | 145 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 5.892 | 10.70 |
| ROPs | 12 | 16 |
| TMUs | 12 | 16 |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).
| Interface | AGP 8x | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Length | no data | 292 mm |
| Width | 1-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x Molex | 1x 8-pin |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | GDDR3 | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 454 MHz | 1700 MBps |
| Memory bandwidth | 29.06 GB/s | 54.4 GB/s |
Connectivity and outputs
This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.
| Display Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x S-Video | 4x DVI |
API and SDK support
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 9.0b (9_2) | 10.1 (10_1) |
| Shader Model | no data | 4.1 |
| OpenGL | 2.0 | 3.3 (full) 4.0 (partial) |
| OpenCL | N/A | N/A |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
Pros & cons summary
| Maximum RAM amount | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Chip lithography | 130 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 57 Watt | 145 Watt |
ATI FireGL X3-256 has 154% lower power consumption.
ATI HD 3850 X3, on the other hand, has a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 136% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between FireGL X3-256 and Radeon HD 3850 X3. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that FireGL X3-256 is a workstation graphics card while Radeon HD 3850 X3 is a desktop one.
Other comparisons
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
