ATI Radeon HD 3850 X3 vs GeForce 9800 GTX

VS

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking889not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.07no data
Power efficiency0.98no data
ArchitectureTesla (2006−2010)TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code nameG92RV670
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date28 March 2008 (16 years ago)no data (2024 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$299 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 cores128320
Core clock speed675 MHz669 MHz
Number of transistors754 million666 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)140 Watt145 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate43.2010.70
Floating-point processing power0.4321 TFLOPSno data
ROPs1616
TMUs6416

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).

Bus supportPCI-E 2.0no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length267 mm292 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 8-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 typeGDDR3GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount512 MB512 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1100 MHz1700 MBps
Memory bandwidth70.4 GB/s54.4 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 ConnectorsHDTVDual Link DVI4x DVI
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMIVia Adapter-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIS/PDIFno data

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 (full) 4.0 (partial)
OpenCL1.1N/A
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA+-

Pros & cons summary


Chip lithography 65 nm 55 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 140 Watt 145 Watt

9800 GTX has 3.6% lower power consumption.

ATI HD 3850 X3, on the other hand, has a 18.2% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between GeForce 9800 GTX and Radeon HD 3850 X3. 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.

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 9800 GTX
GeForce 9800 GTX
ATI Radeon HD 3850 X3
Radeon HD 3850 X3

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.


3.5 179 votes

Rate GeForce 9800 GTX on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
5 1 vote

Rate Radeon HD 3850 X3 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.