GeForce FX 5900 Ultra vs Radeon HD 6850

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6850 and GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 6850
2010
1 GB GDDR5, 127 Watt
5.10
+4536%

HD 6850 outperforms FX 5900 Ultra by a whopping 4536% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking6251447
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.05no data
Power efficiency2.750.13
ArchitectureTeraScale 2 (2009−2015)Rankine (2003−2005)
GPU code nameBartsNV35
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date21 October 2010 (14 years ago)23 October 2003 (21 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$179 $499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 6850 and FX 5900 Ultra have a nearly equal value for money.

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 cores960no data
Core clock speedno data450 MHz
Number of transistors1,700 million135 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm130 nm
Power consumption (TDP)127 Watt59 Watt
Texture fill rate37.203.600
Floating-point processing power1.488 TFLOPSno data
ROPs324
TMUs488

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).

Bus supportAGPno data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16AGP 8x
Length198 mm218 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin1x 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 typeGDDR5DDR
Maximum RAM amount1 GB256 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speedno data425 MHz
Memory bandwidth128.0 GB/s27.2 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 HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video
Eyefinity+-
HDMI+-

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

CrossFire+-

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 119.0a
Shader Model5.0no data
OpenGL4.41.5 (2.1)
OpenCL1.2N/A
Vulkan-N/A

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.

HD 6850 5.10
+4536%
FX 5900 Ultra 0.11

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

HD 6850 1964
+4690%
FX 5900 Ultra 41

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 5.10 0.11
Recency 21 October 2010 23 October 2003
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 256 MB
Chip lithography 40 nm 130 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 127 Watt 59 Watt

HD 6850 has a 4536.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 225% more advanced lithography process.

FX 5900 Ultra, on the other hand, has 115.3% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 6850 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra in performance tests.


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

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon HD 6850
Radeon HD 6850
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra

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.


4 569 votes

Rate Radeon HD 6850 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.5 6 votes

Rate GeForce FX 5900 Ultra on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.