ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac Edition vs NVS 315
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 1202 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.03 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 3.36 | no data |
| Architecture | Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014) | TeraScale (2005−2013) |
| GPU code name | GF119 | RV670 |
| Market segment | Workstation | Desktop |
| Release date | 10 March 2013 (13 years ago) | 12 June 2008 (17 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $159 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
The higher the ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices.
Performance to price scatter graph
Currently popular graphics cards are shown for comparison.
Detailed specifications
General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Real power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially if overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | 48 | 320 |
| Core clock speed | 523 MHz | 777 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 292 million | 666 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 40 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 19 Watt | 106 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 4.184 | 12.43 |
| Floating-point processing power | 0.1004 TFLOPS | 0.4973 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 4 | 16 |
| TMUs | 8 | 16 |
| L1 Cache | 64 KB | no data |
| L2 Cache | 128 KB | 256 KB |
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 | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Length | 145 mm | 241 mm |
| Width | 1-slot | 1-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | None | 1x 6-pin |
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 | DDR3 | GDDR4 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 512 MB |
| Memory bus width | 64 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 875 MHz | 1126 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 14 GB/s | 72.06 GB/s |
Connectivity and outputs
This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.
| Display Connectors | 1x DMS-59 | 2x DVI, 1x S-Video |
API and SDK support
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_0) | 10.1 (10_1) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 4.1 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 3.3 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | N/A |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
| CUDA | 2.1 | - |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 10 March 2013 | 12 June 2008 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 512 MB |
| Chip lithography | 40 nm | 55 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 19 Watt | 106 Watt |
NVS 315 has an age advantage of 4 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 38% more advanced lithography process, and 458% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between NVS 315 and Radeon HD 3870 Mac Edition. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that NVS 315 is a workstation graphics card while Radeon HD 3870 Mac Edition is a desktop one.
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