ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 vs GeForce 9800M GTX

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce 9800M GTX and Mobility Radeon HD 4870, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

9800M GTX
2008
1 GB GDDR3, 75 Watt
1.18

ATI Mobility HD 4870 outperforms 9800M GTX by an impressive 81% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking1067870
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.06no data
Power efficiency1.09no data
ArchitectureTesla (2006−2010)TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code nameG92M98
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date15 July 2008 (16 years ago)9 January 2009 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$328.50 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

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 cores112800
CUDA cores per GPU112no data
Core clock speed500 MHz550 MHz
Number of transistors754 million956 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)75 Wattno data
Texture fill rate28.0022.00
Floating-point processing power0.28 TFLOPS0.88 TFLOPS
Gigaflops420no data
ROPs1616
TMUs5640

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).

Laptop sizelargelarge
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectorsNoneno data
SLI options+-

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 typeGDDR3GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount1 GB512 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed800 MHz888 MHz
Memory bandwidth51.2 GB/s56.83 GB/s
Shared memory--

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 ConnectorsNo outputsNo outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX11.1 (10_0)10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model4.04.1
OpenGL3.33.3
OpenCL1.11.1
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA+-

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.

9800M GTX 1.18
ATI Mobility HD 4870 2.14
+81.4%

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.

9800M GTX 4825
ATI Mobility HD 4870 6631
+37.4%

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:

Full HD14−16
−85.7%
26
+85.7%

Cost per frame, $

1080p23.46no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%
Elden Ring 0−1 3−4

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 1−2
−300%
4−5
+300%
Counter-Strike 2 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−37.5%
10−12
+37.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2 6−7
−50%
9−10
+50%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 1−2
−300%
4−5
+300%
Counter-Strike 2 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%
Dota 2 0−1 4−5
Elden Ring 0−1 3−4
Far Cry 5 10−11
−40%
14−16
+40%
Fortnite 5−6
−120%
10−12
+120%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−37.5%
10−12
+37.5%
Grand Theft Auto V 1−2
−400%
5−6
+400%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 12−14
−61.5%
21−24
+61.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2 6−7
−50%
9−10
+50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
World of Tanks 24−27
−57.7%
40−45
+57.7%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 1−2
−300%
4−5
+300%
Counter-Strike 2 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%
Dota 2 0−1 4−5
Far Cry 5 10−11
−40%
14−16
+40%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−37.5%
10−12
+37.5%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 12−14
−61.5%
21−24
+61.5%

1440p
High Preset

PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 7−8
−100%
14−16
+100%
Red Dead Redemption 2 0−1 1−2
World of Tanks 6−7
−133%
14−16
+133%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Far Cry 5 5−6
−20%
6−7
+20%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Valorant 6−7
−33.3%
8−9
+33.3%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2 14−16
−6.7%
16−18
+6.7%
Grand Theft Auto V 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 3−4
−100%
6−7
+100%
Red Dead Redemption 2 0−1 1−2
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Dota 2 14−16
−6.7%
16−18
+6.7%
Far Cry 5 0−1 2−3
Valorant 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Metro Exodus 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Metro Exodus 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Elden Ring 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
High Preset

Elden Ring 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Fortnite 0−1 0−1

This is how 9800M GTX and ATI Mobility HD 4870 compete in popular games:

  • ATI Mobility HD 4870 is 86% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Grand Theft Auto V, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the ATI Mobility HD 4870 is 400% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • ATI Mobility HD 4870 is ahead in 35 tests (80%)
  • there's a draw in 9 tests (20%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 1.18 2.14
Recency 15 July 2008 9 January 2009
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 512 MB
Chip lithography 65 nm 55 nm

9800M GTX has a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.

ATI Mobility HD 4870, on the other hand, has a 81.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 months, and a 18.2% more advanced lithography process.

The Mobility Radeon HD 4870 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 9800M GTX in performance tests.


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

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NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX
GeForce 9800M GTX
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870
Mobility Radeon HD 4870

Other comparisons

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


2.3 3 votes

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3.7 9 votes

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Questions & comments

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