Radeon 520 vs GeForce 9800M GTS SLI

Place in the ranking	904	884
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	0.90	2.82
Architecture	G9x (2007−2010)	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code name	NB9E-GT	Banks
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	15 July 2008 (16 years ago)	18 April 2017 (7 years ago)

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	128	320
Core clock speed	600 MHz	1030 MHz
Number of transistors	1508 Million	690 million
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	50 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	20.60
Floating-point processing power	no data	0.6592 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	8
TMUs	no data	20

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	large	no data
Interface	no data	PCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors	no data	None
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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	800 MHz	1125 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	36 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

no data

No outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX	10	12 (11_1)
Shader Model	no data	5.1
OpenGL	no data	4.6
OpenCL	no data	1.2
Vulkan	-	1.2.131
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.

9800M GTS SLI 1.96

Radeon 520 2.05
+4.6%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

9800M GTS SLI 5663
+7.5%

Radeon 520 5266

Gaming performance

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

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD

12−14

−8.3%

13
+8.3%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Elden Ring	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Metro Exodus	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Dota 2	4−5 −50%	6 +50%
Elden Ring	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Fortnite	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Metro Exodus	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	18−20 +5.6%	18 −5.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
World of Tanks	35−40 −2.6%	35−40 +2.6%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Dota 2	4−5 −350%	18 +350%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	18−20 −5.3%	20−22 +5.3%

1440p
High Preset

Elden Ring	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	12−14 −7.7%	14−16 +7.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
World of Tanks	12−14 −8.3%	12−14 +8.3%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	0−1	0−1
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −50%	3−4 +50%
Far Cry 5	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Valorant	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Elden Ring	0−1	1−2
Grand Theft Auto V	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	5−6 −20%	6−7 +20%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Dota 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Far Cry 5	1−2 −100%	2−3 +100%
Fortnite	0−1	0−1
Valorant	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%

This is how 9800M GTS SLI and Radeon 520 compete in popular games:

Radeon 520 is 8% faster in 1080p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the 9800M GTS SLI is 6% faster.
in Dota 2, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Radeon 520 is 350% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

9800M GTS SLI is ahead in 1 test (2%)
Radeon 520 is ahead in 9 tests (18%)
there's a draw in 39 tests (80%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.96	2.05
Recency	15 July 2008	18 April 2017
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	2 GB
Chip lithography	55 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	50 Watt

Radeon 520 has a 4.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 96.4% more advanced lithography process, and 200% lower power consumption.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between GeForce 9800M GTS SLI and Radeon 520.

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