GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 vs Radeon HD 3870 X2
General info
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 873 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Value for money | 0.04 | no data |
| Architecture | TeraScale (2005−2013) | Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013) |
| GPU code name | R680 | GT200 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Release date | 26 January 2008 (16 years ago) | 16 September 2008 (15 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $449 | $299 |
| Current price | $254 (0.6x MSRP) | $259 (0.9x MSRP) |
Value for money
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
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 cores | 320 | 216 |
| Core clock speed | 825 MHz | 576 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 666 million | 1,400 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 55 nm | 65 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 165 Watt | 182 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 13.20 | 41.47 |
| Floating-point performance | 2x 528.0 gflops | 536.5 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).
| Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Length | 267 mm | 267 mm |
| Width | 2-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | 2x 6-pin |
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 type | GDDR3 | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 512 MB | 896 MB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 448 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1802 MHz | 1998 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 57.66 GB/s | 111.9 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 Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x S-Video | 2x DVI, 1x S-Video |
API support
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 10.1 (10_1) | 11.1 (10_0) |
| Shader Model | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| OpenGL | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| OpenCL | N/A | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
| CUDA | no data | 1.3 |
Advantages and disadvantages
| Recency | 26 January 2008 | 16 September 2008 |
| Cost | $449 | $299 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 512 MB | 896 MB |
| Chip lithography | 55 nm | 65 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 165 Watt | 182 Watt |
We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 3870 X2 and GeForce GTX 260 Core 216. 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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