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GeForce 8800 GTX vs Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Intro

The GeForce 8800 GTX comes with a clock speed of 575 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also features a 384-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 90 nm design. It is comprised of 128 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Compare those specs to the Radeon HD 6950 2GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. AMD has clocked the core frequency at 800 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a frequency of 1250 MHz on this card. It features 1408 SPUs as well as 88 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GTX 155 Watts
Radeon HD 6950 2GB 200 Watts
Difference: 45 Watts (29%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the Radeon HD 6950 2GB will be 85% quicker than the GeForce 8800 GTX overall, because of its higher bandwidth. (explain)

Radeon HD 6950 2GB 160000 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX 86400 MB/sec
Difference: 73600 (85%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 6950 2GB will be quite a bit (more or less 91%) better at AF than the GeForce 8800 GTX. (explain)

Radeon HD 6950 2GB 70400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX 36800 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 33600 (91%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 6950 2GB is a lot (more or less 86%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8800 GTX, and capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

Radeon HD 6950 2GB 25600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX 13800 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 11800 (86%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

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GeForce 8800 GTX

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 8800 GTX Radeon HD 6950 2GB
Manufacturer nVidia AMD
Year Nov 2006 December 2010
Code Name G80 Cayman Pro
Memory 768 MB 2048 MB
Core Speed 575 MHz 800 MHz
Memory Speed 1800 MHz 5000 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 155 watts 200 watts
Bandwidth 86400 MB/sec 160000 MB/sec
Texel Rate 36800 Mtexels/sec 70400 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 13800 Mpixels/sec 25600 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 128 1408
Texture Mapping Units 64 88
Render Output Units 24 32
Bus Type GDDR3 GDDR5
Bus Width 384-bit 256-bit
Fab Process 90 nm 40 nm
Transistors 681 million 2640 million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 11
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 4.1

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8800 GTX

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Comments

One Response to “GeForce 8800 GTX vs Radeon HD 6950 2GB”
Ctsephion says:

Wow, quite the upgrade!

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