ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 vs GeForce 9600 GT

Place in the ranking	1036	855
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.04	no data
Power efficiency	0.92	1.41
Architecture	Tesla (2006−2010)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	G94	M88
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	21 February 2008 (16 years ago)	1 September 2008 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$179	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores	64	320
Core clock speed	650 MHz	660 MHz
Number of transistors	505 million	666 million
Manufacturing process technology	65 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	96 Watt	110 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	105 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	20.80	10.56
Floating-point processing power	0.208 TFLOPS	0.4224 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	16
TMUs	32	16

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).

Laptop size	no data	large
Bus support	16x PCI-E 2.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	229 mm	no data
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	1-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	no data
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 type	GDDR3	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	512 MB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	900 MHz	850 MHz
Memory bandwidth	57.6 GB/s	54.4 GB/s
Shared memory	-	-

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 Connectors	HDTVTwo Dual Link DVI	No outputs
Multi monitor support	+	no data
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	S/PDIF	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model	4.0	4.1
OpenGL	2.1	3.3
OpenCL	1.1	N/A
Vulkan	N/A	N/A
CUDA	+	-

Gaming performance

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

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

5−6

+0%

5−6

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6

+0%

5−6

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6

+0%

5−6

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	0−1	0−1
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	0−1	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

+0%

3−4

+0%

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 54 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.25	2.22
Recency	21 February 2008	1 September 2008
Chip lithography	65 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	96 Watt	110 Watt

9600 GT has 14.6% lower power consumption.

ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2, on the other hand, has a 77.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 months, and a 18.2% more advanced lithography process.

The Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 9600 GT in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce 9600 GT is a desktop card while Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 is a notebook one.

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