AMD HD 6550A vs ATI HD 3870 X2

General info

Comparison of graphics card architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters.

Place in performance rating	799	800
Value for money	0.05	no data
Architecture	TeraScale (2005−2013)	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code name	R680	Pinewood
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	26 January 2008 (15 years old)	7 February 2011 (11 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)	$449	no data
Current price	$300 (0.7x MSRP)	no data

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	480
Core clock speed	825 MHz	550 MHz
Number of transistors	666 million	627 million
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm	40 nm
Thermal design power (TDP)	165 Watt	35 Watt
Texture fill rate	13.20	13.20
Floating-point performance	2x 528.0 gflops	624.0 gflops

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	MXM-A (3.0)
Length	267 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	MXM Module
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	no data

Memory

Parameters of memory installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Note that GPUs integrated into processors have no dedicated VRAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory type	GDDR3	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	1802 MHz	1600 MHz
Memory bandwidth	57.66 GB/s	25.6 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

No outputs

API support

APIs supported, including particular versions of those APIs.

DirectX	10.1 (10_1)	11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model	4.1	5.0
OpenGL	3.3	4.4
OpenCL	N/A	1.2
Vulkan	N/A	N/A

Benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. Note that overall benchmark performance is measured in points in 0-100 range.

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Overall score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. 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.

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

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Recency	26 January 2008	7 February 2011
Memory bus width	256	128
Memory bandwidth	57.66	25.6
Pipelines / CUDA cores	320	480
Chip lithography	55 nm	40 nm
Thermal design power (TDP)	165 Watt	35 Watt

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

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