ATI Radeon X850 XT AGP vs GeForce FX 5900 Ultra

Primary details

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

Place in the rankingnot ratednot rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
ArchitectureRankine (2003−2005)R400 (2004−2008)
GPU code nameNV35R481
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date23 October 2003 (21 year ago)28 February 2005 (19 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$499 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.

Core clock speed450 MHz520 MHz
Number of transistors135 million160 million
Manufacturing process technology130 nm130 nm
Power consumption (TDP)59 Watt69 Watt
Texture fill rate3.6008.320
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).

InterfaceAGP 8xAGP 8x
Length218 mmno data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x Molex1x Molex

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 typeDDRGDDR3
Maximum RAM amount256 MB256 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed425 MHz540 MHz
Memory bandwidth27.2 GB/s34.56 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-Video1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video

API compatibility

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

DirectX9.0a9.0b (9_2)
OpenGL1.5 (2.1)2.0
OpenCLN/AN/A
VulkanN/AN/A

Pros & cons summary


Recency 23 October 2003 28 February 2005
Power consumption (TDP) 59 Watt 69 Watt

FX 5900 Ultra has 16.9% lower power consumption.

ATI X850 XT AGP, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 year.

We couldn't decide between GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and Radeon X850 XT AGP. 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.

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NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
ATI Radeon X850 XT AGP
Radeon X850 XT AGP

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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