ATI Radeon 9600 TX vs GeForce 6800

Place in the ranking	1337	1479
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Architecture	Curie (2003−2013)	Rage 8 (2002−2007)
GPU code name	NV41	R300
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	8 November 2004 (20 years ago)	7 October 2003 (21 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$39.99	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.

Core clock speed	325 MHz	297 MHz
Number of transistors	190 million	110 million
Manufacturing process technology	130 nm	150 nm
Texture fill rate	3.900	2.376
ROPs	8	8
TMUs	12	8

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	PCIe 1.0 x16	AGP 8x
Width	1-slot	1-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	Floppy

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	DDR	DDR
Maximum RAM amount	256 MB	128 MB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	300 MHz	270 MHz
Memory bandwidth	19.2 GB/s	8.64 GB/s

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors

1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video

2x VGA, 1x S-Video

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	9.0c (9_3)	9.0 (9_0)
Shader Model	3.0	no data
OpenGL	2.0 (full) 2.1 (partial)	2.0
OpenCL	N/A	N/A
Vulkan	N/A	N/A

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GeForce 6800 0.29
+480%

ATI 9600 TX 0.05

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GeForce 6800 112
+522%

ATI 9600 TX 18

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.29	0.05
Recency	8 November 2004	7 October 2003
Maximum RAM amount	256 MB	128 MB
Chip lithography	130 nm	150 nm

GeForce 6800 has a 480% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 15.4% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce 6800 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon 9600 TX in performance tests.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.