GeForce GTX 260 216 vs Quadro FX 3500

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Primary details

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

Place in the ranking1182not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency0.57no data
ArchitectureCurie (2003−2013)Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013)
GPU code nameG71GT200
Market segmentWorkstationDesktop
Release date22 May 2006 (18 years ago)16 September 2008 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$1,599 $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 coresno data216
Core clock speed450 MHz576 MHz
Number of transistors278 million1,400 million
Manufacturing process technology90 nm65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)80 Watt182 Watt
Texture fill rate9.00041.47
Floating-point processing powerno data0.5365 TFLOPS
ROPs1628
TMUs2072

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 1.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length173 mm267 mm
Width1-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsNone2x 6-pin

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 amount256 MB896 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit448 Bit
Memory clock speed660 MHz999 MHz
Memory bandwidth42.24 GB/s111.9 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x S-Video2x DVI, 1x S-Video

API compatibility

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

DirectX9.0c (9_3)11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model3.04.0
OpenGL2.13.3
OpenCLN/A1.1
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA-1.3

Pros & cons summary


Recency 22 May 2006 16 September 2008
Maximum RAM amount 256 MB 896 MB
Chip lithography 90 nm 65 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 80 Watt 182 Watt

FX 3500 has 127.5% lower power consumption.

GTX 260 216, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 2 years, a 250% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 38.5% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between Quadro FX 3500 and GeForce GTX 260 Core 216. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that Quadro FX 3500 is a workstation graphics card while GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is a desktop 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 Quadro FX 3500
Quadro FX 3500
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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4.1 9 votes

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4.1 14 votes

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Questions & comments

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