GeForce GT 520 vs GTX 690

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 690 and GeForce GT 520, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 690
2012
4 GB (4 GB per GPU) GDDR5 GDDR5, 300 Watt
14.32
+1668%

GTX 690 outperforms GT 520 by a whopping 1668% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking3671145
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.490.01
Power efficiency3.271.91
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014)
GPU code nameGK104GF119
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date3 May 2012 (12 years ago)13 April 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$999 $59

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 690 has 14800% better value for money than GT 520.

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 cores307248
Core clock speed915 MHz810 MHz
Boost clock speed1019 MHzno data
Number of transistors3,540 million292 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)300 Watt29 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data102 °C
Texture fill rate130.46.480
Floating-point processing power3.13 TFLOPS0.1555 TFLOPS
ROPs324
TMUs1288

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).

Bus supportPCI Express 3.016x PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length279 mm145 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)2.7" (6.9 cm)
Width2-slot1-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 8-pinNone
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 typeGDDR5DDR3
Maximum RAM amount4 GB (4 GB per GPU) GDDR51 GB (DDR3)
Memory bus width512-bit (256-bit per GPU)64 Bit
Memory clock speed1502 MHz900 MHz (DDR3)
Memory bandwidth384 GB/s14.4 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 ConnectorsTwo Dual Link DVI-I. One Dual link DVI-D. One Mini-Displayport 1.2Dual Link DVI-IHDMIVGA (optional)
Multi monitor support4 displays+
HDMIYes (via dongle)+
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x15362048x1536
Audio input for HDMIInternalInternal

Supported technologies

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

3D Blu-Ray+-
3D Gaming+-
3D Vision Live+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_0)12 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.24.2
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan1.1.126N/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.

GTX 690 14.32
+1668%
GT 520 0.81

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.

GTX 690 5515
+1668%
GT 520 312

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 690 13160
+3363%
GT 520 380

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

GTX 690 18201
+1329%
GT 520 1274

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 14.32 0.81
Recency 3 May 2012 13 April 2011
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB (4 GB per GPU) GDDR5 1 GB (DDR3)
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt 29 Watt

GTX 690 has a 1667.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

GT 520, on the other hand, has 934.5% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 690 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 520 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 GTX 690
GeForce GTX 690
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520
GeForce GT 520

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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.


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Questions & comments

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