To make it easier to compare the performance of the different graphic chips and generations, we provide additional results for Nvidia’s GeForce 8, 9800 GTX, and GTX 260, and AMD’s Radeon 38x0 and 48x0. The GeForce 9600 GT and Radeon 4870 are tested with two different driver versions to make it easier to see the differences upon updating from ForceWare 175.16 to GeForce 177.92, or from Catalyst 8.6 to 8.8.
The Asus EN9600GT Silent with 512 MB runs at the Nvidia standard clock speeds, just like the reference 9600 GT with 1 GB. MSI slightly increases graphics processor (GPU) and shader speeds, while Palit and Sparkle increase GPU, shader, and graphics memory speeds.
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Card Manufacturer and Chip
Code name
Memory
GPU Speed
Shader
Memory Speed
SPs
GeForce GTX 260
GT200
896 GDDR3
576 MHz
4.0, 1242 MHz
1998 MHz
192
GeForce 9800 GTX
G92
512 MB GDDR3
675 MHz
4.0, 1688 MHz
2200 MHz
128
GeForce 9600 GT SLI
G94
1024 MB GDDR3
650 MHz
4.0, 1625 MHz
1800 MHz
64
GeForce 9600 GT
G94
1024 MB GDDR3
650 MHz
4.0, 1625 MHz
1800 MHz
64
Asus GeForce 9600 GT
G94
512 MB GDDR3
650 MHz
4.0, 1625 MHz
1800 MHz
64
MSI GeForce 9600 GT
G94
1024 MB GDDR3
700 MHz
4.0, 1680 MHz
1800 MHz
64
Palit GeForce 9600 GT
G94
1024 MB GDDR3
700 MHz
4.0, 1750 MHz
2000 MHz
64
Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT
G94
512 MB GDDR3
700 MHz
4.0, 1850 MHz
2000 MHz
64
GeForce 8800 GTS
G92
512 MB GDDR3
650 MHz
4.0, 1625 MHz
1944 MHz
128
GeForce 8800 GT
G92
512 MB GDDR3
600 MHz
4.0, 1500 MHz
1800 MHz
112
GeForce 8800 GTX
G80
768 MB GDDR3
576 MHz
4.0, 1350 MHz
1800 MHz
128
GeForce 8800 GTS
G80
640 MB GDDR3
500 MHz
4.0, 1188 MHz
1600 MHz
96
GeForce 8800 GTS
G80
320 MB GDDR3
500 MHz
4.0, 1188 MHz
1600 MHz
96
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Card Manufacturer and Chip
Memory Bus
Manufacturing Process
Transistors
Interface
GeForce GTX 260
448 Bit
65 nm
1400 MB
PCIe 2.0
GeForce 9800 GTX
256 Bit
65 nm
754 MB
PCIe 2.0
GeForce 9600 GT SLI
256 Bit
65 nm
505 MB
PCIe 2.0
GeForce 9600 GT
256 Bit
65 nm
505 MB
PCIe 2.0
Asus GeForce 9600 GT
256 Bit
65 nm
505 MB
PCIe 2.0
MSI GeForce 9600 GT
256 Bit
65 nm
505 MB
PCIe 2.0
Palit GeForce 9600 GT
256 Bit
65 nm
505 MB
PCIe 2.0
Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT
256 Bit
65 nm
505 MB
PCIe 2.0
GeForce 8800 GTS
256 Bit
65 nm
754 MB
PCIe 2.0
GeForce 8800 GT
256 Bit
65 nm
754 MB
PCIe 2.0
GeForce 8800 GTX
384 Bit
90 nm
681 MB
PCIe 1
GeForce 8800 GTS
320 Bit
90 nm
681 MB
PCIe 1
GeForce 8800 GTS
320 Bit
90 nm
681 MB
PCIe 1
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Card Manufacturer and Chip
Code name
Memory
GPU Speed
Shader
Memory Speed
SPs
Radeon HD 4870
RV770
512 MB GDDR5
750 MHz
4.1
3600 MHz
800
Radeon HD 4850 CF
RV770
512 MB GDDR3
625 MHz
4.1
1986 MHz
800
Radeon HD 4850
RV770
512 MB GDDR3
625 MHz
4.1
1986 MHz
800
Radeon HD 3870
RV670
512 MB GDDR4
775 MHz
4.1
2252 MHz
320
Radeon HD 3850
RV670
256 MB GDDR3
670 MHz
4.1
1658 MHz
320
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Card Manufacturer and Chip
Memory Bus
Manufacturing Process
Transistors
Interface
Radeon HD 4870
256 Bit
55 nm
965 MB
PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 4850 CF
256 Bit
55 nm
965 MB
PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 4850
256 Bit
55 nm
965 MB
PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 3870
256 Bit
55 nm
666 MB
PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 3850
256 Bit
55 nm
666 MB
PCIe 2.0
Memory clock speed=DDR clock speed doubled; physical clock speed is one half DDR5 clock speed quadrupled; physical clock speed is one quarter SPs=Stream-Processors, P and V=Pixel shader and Vertex shader TC=Turbo Cache HM=Hyper Memory OC=overclocked (clock speed higher than standard) SLI=Parallel mode with 2 Nvidia Cards 3SLI=Parallel mode with 3 Nvidia graphics chips 4SLI=Parallel mode with 4 Nvidia graphics chips CF=CrossFire Parallel mode with 2 AMD cards 3CF=CrossFire Parallel mode with 3 AMD graphics chips 4CF=CrossFire Parallel mode with 4 AMD graphics chips R680=2xRV670 Shader 2.0=DirectX 9.0; 3.0=DirectX 9.0c; 4.0=DirectX 10; Shader 4.1=DirectX 10.1
What about the HD 4850? It costs less than the "last 8800 GTS 512's"
Asus sells them for what? 170 dollars,free shipping on Newegg?
Maybe I even saw one @ 160...
No offense, as the article and tests run were good (I especially like the overall FPS charts), but this information would have been more pertinent, like, 6 months ago.
Uh, I don't get what the people about are upset for. It's a good article, I enjoyed reading and seeing where these cards fit into the scheme of things. I know ATI has made a comeback with their recent cards but until their drivers are completely open and stable I'll stick with nVidia myself so I especially enjoyed this article. Thanks Toms!
Waste of 3 mins, it makes very little sense, the 9600 GTs in sli are around the 280 GTX in performance, yet it manages to get destroyed by the 4870.
This article would've meant something around the time the cards came out...now I'd much rather like to see the 4850 cards compared or 260s or w.e else that is this gen.
NivaUh, I don't get what the people about are upset for. It's a good article, I enjoyed reading and seeing where these cards fit into the scheme of things. I know ATI has made a comeback with their recent cards but until their drivers are completely open and stable I'll stick with nVidia myself so I especially enjoyed this article. Thanks Toms!
Exactly what is open about nvidia's drivers?
warms my heart to see the old 8800GTX included in this test list.
It's amazing this ancient cards at default speed still sit in the middle of the pack and quickly rise to the top when you turn up AA and texture quality up, beating most every other card cept for 260GTX and SLI and CF rigs.
It also explains why a pair of old 8800GTX's in SLI OC'ed to at least Ultra speeds on a fast rig are still very hard to out perform by any single card (period)
There is a reason to get the 9600GT over the 8800GT, power consumption. Look at the numbers, the 9600GT has 1/2 the number of shaders (hence a smaller die). I know the shader clock runs a little faster but a good quality stock PSU with 300W (real, like antec, corsair, etc) should be fine for running it.
