ATI Radeon X1900 XT vs GeForce GTX 280

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking732not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.11no data
Power efficiency0.99no data
ArchitectureTesla 2.0 (2007−2013)R500 (2005−2007)
GPU code nameGT200R580
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date16 June 2008 (16 years ago)24 January 2006 (18 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$649 $299

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 cores240no data
Core clock speed602 MHz625 MHz
Number of transistors1,400 million384 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm90 nm
Power consumption (TDP)236 Watt100 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate48.1610.00
Floating-point processing power0.6221 TFLOPSno data
ROPs3216
TMUs8016

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).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 1.0 x16
Length267 mm242 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 6-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 amount1 GB256 MB
Memory bus width512 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1107 MHz725 MHz
Memory bandwidth141.7 GB/s46.4 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 DVI2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Multi monitor support+no data
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)9.0c (9_3)
Shader Model4.03.0
OpenGL2.12.1 (full) 3.0 (partial)
OpenCL1.1N/A
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA+-

Pros & cons summary


Recency 16 June 2008 24 January 2006
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 256 MB
Chip lithography 65 nm 90 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 236 Watt 100 Watt

GTX 280 has an age advantage of 2 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 38.5% more advanced lithography process.

ATI X1900 XT, on the other hand, has 136% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 280 and Radeon X1900 XT. 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 GTX 280
GeForce GTX 280
ATI Radeon X1900 XT
Radeon X1900 XT

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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