GeForce 9800 GX2 vs Radeon HD 6950

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6950 and GeForce 9800 GX2, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 6950
2010
2 GB GDDR5, 500 Watt
6.77
+227%

HD 6950 outperforms 9800 GX2 by a whopping 227% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking555870
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.040.04
Power efficiency2.340.73
ArchitectureTeraScale 3 (2010−2013)Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code nameCaymanG92
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date14 December 2010 (13 years ago)18 March 2008 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$299 $599

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 6950 has 2500% better value for money than 9800 GX2.

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 cores1408256 (128 per GPU)
Core clock speedno data600 MHz
Boost clock speed800 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,640 million754 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)500 Watt197 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data105 °C
Texture fill rate70.4038.40
Floating-point processing power2.253 TFLOPS0.384 TFLOPS
ROPs3216
TMUs8864

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 supportPCIe 2.0 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length267 mm267 mm
Heightno data2-slot
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-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 typeGDDR5GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount2 GB512 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit512 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz1000 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data128 (64 per GPU)

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-DisplayPortHDMIDual Link DVI
Multi monitor supportno data+
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
Audio input for HDMIno dataS/PDIF

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® 1111.1 (10_0)
Shader Model5.04.0
OpenGL4.42.1
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan-N/A
CUDA-+

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 6950 6.77
+227%
9800 GX2 2.07

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 6950 2612
+228%
9800 GX2 797

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 6.77 2.07
Recency 14 December 2010 18 March 2008
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 512 MB
Chip lithography 40 nm 65 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 500 Watt 197 Watt

HD 6950 has a 227.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 62.5% more advanced lithography process.

9800 GX2, on the other hand, has 153.8% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 6950 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 9800 GX2 in performance tests.


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

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AMD Radeon HD 6950
Radeon HD 6950
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2
GeForce 9800 GX2

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.


3.7 218 votes

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3.3 11 votes

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Questions & comments

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