GeForce 9800 GT vs ATI Radeon HD 5970

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 5970 and GeForce 9800 GT, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

ATI HD 5970
2009
1 GB GDDR5, 294 Watt
5.92
+377%

ATI HD 5970 outperforms 9800 GT by a whopping 377% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking5891040
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.360.07
Power efficiency1.380.68
ArchitectureTeraScale 2 (2009−2015)Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code nameHemlockG92
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date18 November 2009 (15 years ago)21 July 2008 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$699 $160

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

ATI HD 5970 has 414% better value for money than 9800 GT.

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 cores1600112
Core clock speed725 MHz600 MHz
Number of transistors2,154 million754 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)294 Watt105 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data105 °C
Texture fill rate58.0033.60
Floating-point processing power2.32 TFLOPS0.336 TFLOPS
ROPs3216
TMUs8056

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).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length305 mm229 mm
Heightno data1-slot
Width2-slot1-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 6-pin
SLI options-+

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 typeGDDR5GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount1 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1000 MHz900 MHz
Memory bandwidth128.0 GB/s57.6 GB/s

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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPortHDTVDual Link DVI
Multi monitor supportno data+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
Audio input for HDMIno dataS/PDIF

API compatibility

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

DirectX11.2 (11_0)11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model5.04.0
OpenGL4.42.1
OpenCL1.21.1
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA-+

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.

ATI HD 5970 5.92
+377%
9800 GT 1.24

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.

ATI HD 5970 2282
+377%
9800 GT 478

Gaming performance

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

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 5.92 1.24
Recency 18 November 2009 21 July 2008
Chip lithography 40 nm 65 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 294 Watt 105 Watt

ATI HD 5970 has a 377.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and a 62.5% more advanced lithography process.

9800 GT, on the other hand, has 180% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 5970 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 9800 GT in performance tests.


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

Vote for your favorite

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


ATI Radeon HD 5970
Radeon HD 5970
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
GeForce 9800 GT

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.6 43 votes

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3.3 1453 votes

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Questions & comments

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