Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3600 vs GeForce FX 5900

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)PowerVR SGX5 (2008−2011)
GPU code nameNV35Cedar Trail
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date12 May 2003 (21 year ago)1 November 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$399 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 coresno data4
Core clock speed400 MHzno data
Boost clock speedno data400 MHz
Number of transistors135 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology130 nm32 nm
Texture fill rate3.200no data
ROPs4no data
TMUs8no data

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 8xno data
Length218 mmno data
Width1-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x Molexno data

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 typeDDRno data
Maximum RAM amount128 MBno data
Memory bus width256 Bitno data
Memory clock speed425 MHzno data
Memory bandwidth27.2 GB/sno data
Shared memoryno data+

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-Videono data

API compatibility

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

DirectX9.0ano data
OpenGL1.5 (2.1)no data
OpenCLN/Ano data
VulkanN/A-

Pros & cons summary


Recency 12 May 2003 1 November 2011
Chip lithography 130 nm 32 nm

Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3600 has an age advantage of 8 years, and a 306.3% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between GeForce FX 5900 and Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3600. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that GeForce FX 5900 is a desktop card while Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3600 is a notebook one.


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
GeForce FX 5900
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3600
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3600

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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3.1 43 votes

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2.5 134 votes

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Questions & comments

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