NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GSO vs ATI Radeon HD 3850

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Combined performance score

ATI HD 3850
1.01
+20.2%

Radeon HD 3850 outperforms GeForce 9600 GSO by 20% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking10631094
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money0.370.09
ArchitectureTeraScale (2005−2013)Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code nameRV670G92
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date19 November 2007 (16 years old)28 April 2008 (15 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$179 $49.99
Current price$30 (0.2x MSRP)$75 (1.5x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

ATI HD 3850 has 311% better value for money than 9600 GSO.

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 cores32096
CUDA coresno data96
Core clock speed668 MHz550 MHz
Number of transistors666 million754 million
Manufacturing process technology55 nm65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)75 Watt105 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data105 °C
Texture fill rate10.6926.4 billion/sec
Floating-point performance427.5 gflops264 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).

Bus supportno dataPCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length208 mm9" (22.9 cm)
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width1-slot1-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin6-pin
SLI optionsno data2-way

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 typeGDDR3GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount1 GB384 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1660 MHz800 MHz
Memory bandwidth53.12 GB/s38.4 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x S-VideoDual Link DVIHDTV
Multi monitor supportno data+
HDMIno data+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
Audio input for HDMIno dataS/PDIF

API support

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

DirectX10.1 (10_1)11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model4.14.0
OpenGL3.32.1
OpenCLN/A1.1
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDAno data+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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.

ATI HD 3850 1.01
+20.2%
9600 GSO 0.84

Radeon HD 3850 outperforms GeForce 9600 GSO by 20% in our combined benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

ATI HD 3850 392
+19.9%
9600 GSO 327

Radeon HD 3850 outperforms GeForce 9600 GSO by 20% in Passmark.

Gaming performance

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

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 1.01 0.84
Recency 19 November 2007 28 April 2008
Cost $179 $49.99
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 384 MB
Chip lithography 55 nm 65 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 75 Watt 105 Watt

The Radeon HD 3850 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 9600 GSO in performance tests.


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

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


ATI Radeon HD 3850
Radeon HD 3850
NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GSO
GeForce 9600 GSO

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User ratings: view and submit

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3.3 172 votes

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3.3 47 votes

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Questions and comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.