ATI Radeon HD 3870 vs GeForce 8500 GT

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce 8500 GT and Radeon HD 3870, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

8500 GT
2007
256 MB GDDR3, 30 Watt
0.37

ATI HD 3870 outperforms 8500 GT by a whopping 289% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking1270996
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.010.06
Power efficiency0.850.93
ArchitectureTesla (2006−2010)TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code nameG86RV670
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date17 April 2007 (17 years ago)19 November 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$129 $269

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

ATI HD 3870 has 500% better value for money than 8500 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 cores16320
Core clock speed459 MHz777 MHz
Number of transistors210 million666 million
Manufacturing process technology80 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)30 Watt106 Watt
Texture fill rate3.67212.43
Floating-point processing power0.02938 TFLOPS0.4973 TFLOPS
ROPs416
TMUs816

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 1.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length229 mm241 mm
Width1-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsNone1x 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 typeGDDR3GDDR4
Maximum RAM amount256 MB512 MB
Standard memory config per GPU256 MBno data
Memory bus width128 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed400 MHz1126 MHz
Memory bandwidth12.8 GB/s72.06 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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video2x DVI, 1x S-Video

API compatibility

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

DirectX11.1 (10_0)10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model4.04.1
OpenGL2.13.3
OpenCL1.1N/A
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA1.1-

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.

8500 GT 0.37
ATI HD 3870 1.44
+289%

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.

8500 GT 144
ATI HD 3870 555
+285%

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 0.37 1.44
Recency 17 April 2007 19 November 2007
Maximum RAM amount 256 MB 512 MB
Chip lithography 80 nm 55 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 30 Watt 106 Watt

8500 GT has 253.3% lower power consumption.

ATI HD 3870, on the other hand, has a 289.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 months, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 45.5% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon HD 3870 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 8500 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.


NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
GeForce 8500 GT
ATI Radeon HD 3870
Radeon HD 3870

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.


3 353 votes

Rate GeForce 8500 GT on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.6 161 vote

Rate Radeon HD 3870 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

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