ATI Radeon HD 3870 vs Quadro NVS 150M

Place in the ranking	1401	995
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	0.05
Power efficiency	1.24	0.93
Architecture	Tesla (2006−2010)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	G98	RV670
Market segment	Mobile workstation	Desktop
Release date	15 August 2008 (16 years ago)	19 November 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$269

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 cores	8	320
Core clock speed	530 MHz	777 MHz
Number of transistors	210 million	666 million
Manufacturing process technology	65 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	10 Watt	106 Watt
Texture fill rate	2.120	12.43
Floating-point processing power	0.0208 TFLOPS	0.4973 TFLOPS
ROPs	4	16
TMUs	4	16

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	MXM-I	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	no data	241 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	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	GDDR3	GDDR4
Maximum RAM amount	256 MB	512 MB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	700 MHz	1126 MHz
Memory bandwidth	11.2 GB/s	72.06 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 Connectors

No outputs

2x DVI, 1x S-Video

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model	4.0	4.1
OpenGL	3.3	3.3
OpenCL	1.1	N/A
Vulkan	N/A	N/A
CUDA	1.1	-

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.

NVS 150M 0.18

ATI HD 3870 1.44
+700%

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.

NVS 150M 70

ATI HD 3870 555
+693%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

2−3
−700%

16−18

+700%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −700%	24−27 +700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 −700%	16−18 +700%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −700%	16−18 +700%
Hitman 3	4−5 −650%	30−33 +650%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 −650%	60−65 +650%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	4−5 −650%	30−33 +650%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 −686%	220−230 +686%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −700%	24−27 +700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 −700%	16−18 +700%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −700%	16−18 +700%
Hitman 3	4−5 −650%	30−33 +650%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 −650%	60−65 +650%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	4−5 −650%	30−33 +650%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 −678%	70−75 +678%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 −686%	220−230 +686%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −700%	24−27 +700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 −700%	16−18 +700%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −700%	16−18 +700%
Hitman 3	4−5 −650%	30−33 +650%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 −650%	60−65 +650%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	4−5 −650%	30−33 +650%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 −678%	70−75 +678%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 −686%	220−230 +686%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Hitman 3	6−7 −650%	45−50 +650%
Horizon Zero Dawn	2−3 −700%	16−18 +700%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3
−700%

16−18

+700%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −700%	8−9 +700%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3
−700%

16−18

+700%

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.18	1.44
Recency	15 August 2008	19 November 2007
Maximum RAM amount	256 MB	512 MB
Chip lithography	65 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	10 Watt	106 Watt

NVS 150M has an age advantage of 8 months, and 960% lower power consumption.

ATI HD 3870, on the other hand, has a 700% higher aggregate performance score, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 18.2% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon HD 3870 is our recommended choice as it beats the Quadro NVS 150M in performance tests.

Be aware that Quadro NVS 150M is a mobile workstation card while Radeon HD 3870 is a desktop one.

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