NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
VS
ATI Radeon HD 3850
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
VS
ATI Radeon HD 3850

General info

The general info section in the graphics cards comparison list contains information about the date of release, type, overall rating and other useful data for identifying winner between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280  vs  ATI Radeon HD 3850.

596
Place in performance rating
907
2.27
Value for money (0-100)
no data
Tesla 2.0
Architecture
TeraScale
GT200
Code name
RV670
Desktop
Type
Desktop
16 June 2008 (13 years ago)
Release date
19 November 2007 (14 years ago)
$649
Launch price (MSRP)
$179
$67 (0.1x MSRP)
Price now
$30 (0.2x MSRP)
0.48
Value for money
0.37
GT200
GPU code name
RV670
Desktop
Market segment
Desktop

Technical specs

Which GPU is better between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280  vs  ATI Radeon HD 3850 in the fabrication process, power consumption, and also base and turbo frequency of the GPU is the most important part containing in the graphics cards hierarchy.

240
Pipelines
320
602 MHz
Core clock speed
668 MHz
1,400 million
Transistor count
666 million
65 nm
Manufacturing process technology
55 nm
236 Watt
Power consumption (TDP)
75 Watt
48.2 billion/sec
Texture fill rate
10.69
622.1 gflops
Floating-point performance
427.5 gflops
105 °C
Maximum GPU temperature
no data
240
CUDA cores
no data
240
Pipelines / CUDA cores
320
1,400 million
Number of transistors
666 million
236 Watt
Thermal design power (TDP)
75 Watt

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Let’s discuss how graphics cards NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 and ATI Radeon HD 3850 come in different sizes (length), connector types and types of interfaces.

PCIe 2.0 x16
Interface
PCIe 2.0 x16
10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)
Length
208 mm
6-pin & 8-pin
Supplementary power connectors
1x 6-pin
+
SLI options
no data
4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Height
no data

Memory

Graphics cards memory plays important role both in gaming and in applications for graphics. The card will perform much quicker and better, if it has more memory capacity and right memory type. What is the difference between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 vs ATI Radeon HD 3850.

GDDR3
Memory type
GDDR3
1 GB
Maximum RAM amount
1 GB
512 Bit
Memory bus width
256 Bit
1107 MHz
Memory clock speed
1660 MHz
141.7 GB/s
Memory bandwidth
53.12 GB/s

Video outputs and ports

Let’s find out the difference in extra ports between two graphics cards. What's the difference between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 vs ATI Radeon HD 3850.

HDTVDual Link DVI
Display Connectors
2x DVI, 1x S-Video
+
Multi monitor support
no data
2048x1536
Maximum VGA resolution
no data
S/PDIF
Audio input for HDMI
no data

Technologies

Let’s have a look what is the difference. It is worthwhile to note that NVIDIA and AMD are using different technologies.

+
3D Vision
no data
+
CUDA
no data

API support

The confrontation between the two contenders NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 and ATI Radeon HD 3850 is practically over. The hardware support (API) does not greatly affect the overall performance, it is not considered in synthetic benchmarks and other performance tests. 

11.1 (10_0)
DirectX
10.1 (10_1)
2.1
OpenGL
3.3

Gaming performance

Select form the list the required name to identify gaming performance for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 and ATI Radeon HD 3850 graphics cards. The result shows how fast the game will run and whether it can be run on this computer. The different monitor resolutions – from low to 4K – are used for testing. Find out is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 or ATI Radeon HD 3850 good for gaming.


low
1280x720
med.
1920x1080
high
1920x1080
ultra
1920x1080
QHD
2560x1440
4K
3840x2160
Horizon Zero Dawn (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
ATI Radeon HD 3850
Death Stranding (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
ATI Radeon HD 3850
F1 2020 (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
ATI Radeon HD 3850
Gears Tactics (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
ATI Radeon HD 3850
Doom Eternal (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
ATI Radeon HD 3850
Legend
5 Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
? Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Advantages of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280

2.66% faster in synthetic tests

More memory bandwidth (141.7 GB/s vs 53.12 GB/s)

Advantages of ATI Radeon HD 3850

Cheaper ($30 (0.2x MSRP) vs $67 (0.1x MSRP))

More pipelines (320 vs 240)

Finer manufacturing process technology (55 nm vs 65 nm)

Less power consumption (75 Watt vs 236 Watt)

So, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 or ATI Radeon HD 3850?

Judging by the results of synthetic and gaming tests, we recommend NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 .

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 versus ATI Radeon HD 3850 performance benchmarks comparison

Overall benchmark performance

Passmark

Benchmark Passmark: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Passmark test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

User rating

3.6 Out of 7 Hitesti Score
4.4 Out of 39 Hitesti Score