Radeon 520 vs GeForce 9800M GTX SLI

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce 9800M GTX SLI and Radeon 520, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

9800M GTX SLI
2008
1 GB GDDR3, 150 Watt
3.07
+50.5%

9800M GTX SLI outperforms 520 by an impressive 50% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking767882
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency1.402.80
ArchitectureG9x (2007−2010)GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code nameNB9E-GTXBanks
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date15 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 cores224320
Core clock speed500 MHz1030 MHz
Number of transistors3016 Million690 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt50 Watt
Texture fill rateno data20.60
Floating-point processing powerno data0.6592 TFLOPS
ROPsno data8
TMUsno data20

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 sizelargeno data
Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone
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 typeGDDR3GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount1 GB2 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed800 MHz1125 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data36 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 Connectorsno dataNo outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX1012 (11_1)
Shader Modelno data5.1
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data1.2
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 GTX SLI 3.07
+50.5%
Radeon 520 2.04

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 GTX SLI 8193
+55.6%
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 HD21−24
+50%
14
−50%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 9−10
+28.6%
7−8
−28.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2 0−1
Battlefield 5 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Far Cry New Dawn 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+113%
8−9
−113%
Hitman 3 8−9
+14.3%
7−8
−14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 21−24
+27.8%
18−20
−27.8%
Metro Exodus 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+30%
10−11
−30%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
+8.3%
35−40
−8.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 9−10
+28.6%
7−8
−28.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2 0−1
Battlefield 5 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Far Cry New Dawn 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+113%
8−9
−113%
Hitman 3 8−9
+14.3%
7−8
−14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 21−24
+27.8%
18−20
−27.8%
Metro Exodus 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+30%
10−11
−30%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
−28.6%
18
+28.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
+8.3%
35−40
−8.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 9−10
+28.6%
7−8
−28.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+113%
8−9
−113%
Hitman 3 8−9
+14.3%
7−8
−14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 21−24
+27.8%
18−20
−27.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+30%
10−11
−30%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+133%
6
−133%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
+8.3%
35−40
−8.3%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
+50%
2−3
−50%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Far Cry 5 3−4
+50%
2−3
−50%
Hitman 3 8−9
+14.3%
7−8
−14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
+33.3%
6−7
−33.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 18−20
+72.7%
10−12
−72.7%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 1−2 0−1
Far Cry New Dawn 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%

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%
Forza Horizon 4 1−2 0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
+33.3%
3−4
−33.3%

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

  • 9800M GTX SLI is 50% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Battlefield 5, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the 9800M GTX SLI is 400% faster.
  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the Radeon 520 is 29% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • 9800M GTX SLI is ahead in 49 tests (91%)
  • Radeon 520 is ahead in 1 test (2%)
  • there's a draw in 4 tests (7%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.07 2.04
Recency 15 July 2008 18 April 2017
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Chip lithography 65 nm 28 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 50 Watt

9800M GTX SLI has a 50.5% higher aggregate performance score.

Radeon 520, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 8 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 132.1% more advanced lithography process, and 200% lower power consumption.

The GeForce 9800M GTX SLI is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon 520 in performance tests.


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

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NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX SLI
GeForce 9800M GTX SLI
AMD Radeon 520
Radeon 520

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.


3.2 13 votes

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3 336 votes

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Questions & comments

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