NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX SLI vs AMD Radeon HD 6870

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Combined performance score

HD 6870
5.72
+85.1%

Radeon HD 6870 outperforms GeForce 9800M GTX SLI by 85% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in performance ranking560716
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money0.350.83
ArchitectureTerascale 2 (2009−2015)G9x (2007−2010)
GPU code nameRV940 BartsNB9E-GTX
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date22 October 2010 (13 years old)15 July 2008 (15 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$239 no data
Current price$332 (1.4x MSRP)$149
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

9800M GTX SLI has 137% better value for money than HD 6870.

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores1120224
Core clock speedno data500 MHz
Boost clock speed900 MHzno data
Number of transistors1,700 million3016 Million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)151 Watt150 Watt
Texture fill rate50.40no data
Floating-point performance2,016.0 gflopsno data

Size and compatibility

Information on Radeon HD 6870 and GeForce 9800M GTX SLI compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop sizeno datalarge
Bus supportPCIe 2.0 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16no data
Length220 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pinno data
SLI optionsno data+

Memory

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 typeGDDR5GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount1 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1050 MHz800 MHz
Memory bandwidth134.4 GB/sno data
Shared memory--

Video outputs and ports

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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortno data
Eyefinity1no data
HDMI+no data
DisplayPort support-no data

Technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

AppAcceleration-no data
CrossFire1no data
Enduro-no data
HD3D-no data
PowerTune-no data
TrueAudio-no data
ZeroCore-no data

API support

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

DirectXDirectX® 1110
Shader Model5.0no data
OpenGL4.4no data
OpenCL1.2no data
Mantle-no data
CUDAno data+

Synthetic benchmark performance

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


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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.

HD 6870 5.72
+85.1%
9800M GTX SLI 3.09

Radeon HD 6870 outperforms GeForce 9800M GTX SLI by 85% in our combined benchmark results.


3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

HD 6870 17773
+117%
9800M GTX SLI 8193

Radeon HD 6870 outperforms GeForce 9800M GTX SLI by 117% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

Gaming performance

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

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p57
+90%
30−35
−90%
Full HD63
+110%
30−35
−110%
1200p39
+85.7%
21−24
−85.7%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7 0−1
Battlefield 5 18−20
+157%
7−8
−157%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+38.5%
12−14
−38.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Far Cry New Dawn 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+138%
8−9
−138%
Hitman 3 12−14
+117%
6−7
−117%
Horizon Zero Dawn 10−12
+120%
5−6
−120%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Watch Dogs: Legion 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7 0−1
Battlefield 5 18−20
+157%
7−8
−157%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+38.5%
12−14
−38.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Far Cry New Dawn 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+138%
8−9
−138%
Hitman 3 12−14
+117%
6−7
−117%
Horizon Zero Dawn 10−12
+120%
5−6
−120%
Metro Exodus 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7 0−1
Battlefield 5 18−20
+157%
7−8
−157%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Far Cry New Dawn 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+138%
8−9
−138%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+80%
5−6
−80%
Hitman 3 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Horizon Zero Dawn 12−14
+20%
10−11
−20%
Metro Exodus 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 0−1 0−1
Battlefield 5 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
+50%
2−3
−50%
Far Cry 5 9−10
+80%
5−6
−80%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2 0−1

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Hitman 3 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Metro Exodus 0−1 0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Battlefield 5 1−2 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 5−6
+25%
4−5
−25%
Far Cry New Dawn 8−9
+33.3%
6−7
−33.3%
Forza Horizon 4 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2 0−1

This is how HD 6870 and 9800M GTX SLI compete in popular games:

900p resolution:

  • HD 6870 is 90% faster than 9800M GTX SLI

1080p resolution:

  • HD 6870 is 110% faster than 9800M GTX SLI

1200p resolution:

  • HD 6870 is 85.7% faster than 9800M GTX SLI

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the HD 6870 is 300% faster than the 9800M GTX SLI.

All in all, in popular games:

  • HD 6870 is ahead in 53 tests (98%)
  • there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 5.72 3.09
Recency 22 October 2010 15 July 2008
Chip lithography 40 nm 65 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 151 Watt 150 Watt

The Radeon HD 6870 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 9800M GTX SLI in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6870 is a desktop card while GeForce 9800M GTX SLI is a notebook one.


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

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon HD 6870
Radeon HD 6870
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX SLI
GeForce 9800M GTX SLI

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