ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac Edition vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

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General info

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

Place in performance ranking705not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money0.36no data
ArchitectureTesla 2.0 (2007−2013)TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code nameGT200RV670
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date16 June 2008 (15 years old)12 June 2008 (15 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$449 no data
Current price$49 (0.1x MSRP)$5.99
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores192320
CUDA cores192no data
Core clock speed576 MHz777 MHz
Number of transistors1,400 million666 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)182 Watt106 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate36.9 billion/sec12.43
Floating-point performance476.9 gflops497.3 gflops

Size and 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).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)241 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot1-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 6-pin
SLI options+no 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 typeGDDR3GDDR4
Maximum RAM amount896 MB512 MB
Memory bus width448 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed999 MHz2252 MHz
Memory bandwidth111.9 GB/s72.06 GB/s

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 ConnectorsDual Link DVIHDTV2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI+no data
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIS/PDIFno data

API support

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

DirectX11.1 (10_0)10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model4.04.1
OpenGL2.13.3
OpenCL1.1N/A
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA+no data

Advantages and disadvantages


Maximum RAM amount 896 MB 512 MB
Memory bus width 448 256
Memory bandwidth 111.9 72.06
Pipelines / CUDA cores 192 320
Chip lithography 65 nm 55 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 182 Watt 106 Watt

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 3870 Mac Edition. We've got no test results to judge.


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 GTX 260
GeForce GTX 260
ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac Edition
Radeon HD 3870 Mac Edition

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