GeForce 9800 GX2 vs Radeon HD 7990
Aggregate performance score
We've compared Radeon HD 7990 and GeForce 9800 GX2, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
HD 7990 outperforms 9800 GX2 by a whopping 809% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 376 | 978 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 1.31 | 0.03 |
| Power efficiency | 2.64 | 0.55 |
| Architecture | GCN 1.0 (2011−2020) | Tesla (2006−2010) |
| GPU code name | Malta | G92 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Release date | 24 April 2013 (11 years ago) | 18 March 2008 (16 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $999 | $599 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.
HD 7990 has 4267% 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 cores | 2048 ×2 | 256 (128 per GPU) ×2 |
| Core clock speed | 950 MHz | 600 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1000 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 4,313 million | 754 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 65 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 375 Watt | 197 Watt |
| Maximum GPU temperature | no data | 105 °C |
| Texture fill rate | 128.0 ×2 | 38.40 ×2 |
| Floating-point processing power | 4.096 TFLOPS ×2 | 0.384 TFLOPS ×2 |
| ROPs | 32 ×2 | 16 ×2 |
| TMUs | 128 ×2 | 64 ×2 |
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).
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Length | 307 mm | 267 mm |
| Height | no data | 2-slot |
| Width | 2-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 2x 8-pin | 1x 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 type | GDDR5 | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 3 GB ×2 | 512 MB ×2 |
| Memory bus width | 384 Bit ×2 | 512 Bit ×2 |
| Memory clock speed | 1500 MHz | 1000 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 288.0 GB/s ×2 | 128 (64 per GPU) ×2 |
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 Connectors | 1x DVI, 4x mini-DisplayPort | HDMIDual Link DVI |
| Multi monitor support | no data | + |
| HDMI | - | + |
| Maximum VGA resolution | no data | 2048x1536 |
| Audio input for HDMI | no data | S/PDIF |
API and SDK compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 11.1 (10_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 2.1 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | 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.
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.
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 | 12.45 | 1.37 |
| Recency | 24 April 2013 | 18 March 2008 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 3 GB | 512 MB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 65 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 375 Watt | 197 Watt |
HD 7990 has a 808.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 132.1% more advanced lithography process.
9800 GX2, on the other hand, has 90.4% lower power consumption.
The Radeon HD 7990 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 9800 GX2 in performance tests.
Other comparisons
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
