ATI Radeon 8500 vs GeForce FX 5600

Place in the ranking	1483	1492
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	0.06	0.06
Architecture	Rankine (2003−2005)	Rage 7 (2001−2006)
GPU code name	NV31	R200
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	6 March 2003 (21 year ago)	14 August 2001 (23 years ago)

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	275 MHz
Number of transistors	80 million	60 million
Manufacturing process technology	130 nm	150 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	37 Watt	23 Watt
Texture fill rate	1.300	2.200
ROPs	4	4
TMUs	4	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	AGP 8x	AGP 4x
Width	1-slot	1-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	None

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	128 MB	64 MB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	250 MHz	275 MHz
Memory bandwidth	8 GB/s	8.8 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

API compatibility

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

DirectX	9.0a	8.1
OpenGL	1.5 (2.1)	1.4
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.

FX 5600 0.03
+50%

ATI 8500 0.02

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.

FX 5600 12
+100%

ATI 8500 6

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	0.03	0.02
Recency	6 March 2003	14 August 2001
Maximum RAM amount	128 MB	64 MB
Chip lithography	130 nm	150 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	37 Watt	23 Watt

FX 5600 has a 50% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 15.4% more advanced lithography process.

ATI 8500, on the other hand, has 60.9% lower power consumption.

The GeForce FX 5600 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon 8500 in performance tests.

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