nVidia Chips Comparison Table

If you don't follow almost daily the video card market it is really complicated to understand the differences between the several different nVidia graphics chips available on the market today. To facilitate knowing and understanding the difference among these chips, we have compiled the following table:

Chip	Core Clock	Memory Clock	Memory Interface	Memory Transfer Rate	Pixels per clock	DirectX
GeForce 4 MX 440 AGP 8x	275 MHz	512 MHz	128-bit	8.1 GB/s	2	7
GeForce MX 4000	250 MHz	*	32-bit or 64-bit or 128-bit	*	2	7
GeForce FX 5200	250 MHz	400 MHz	64-bit or 128-bit	3.2 GB/s or 6.4 GB/s	4	9.0
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra	350 MHz	650 MHz	128-bit	10.4 GB/s	4	9.0
GeForce FX 5600	325 MHz	550 MHz	128-bit	8.8 GB/s	4	9.0
GeForce FX 5500	270 MHz	400 MHz	64-bit or 128-bit	3.2 GB/s or 6.4 GB/s	4	9.0
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra	500 MHz	800 MHz	128-bit	12.8 GB/s	4	9.0
GeForce FX 5700 LE	250 MHz	400 MHz	128-bit	6.4 GB/s	4	9.0
GeForce FX 5700	425 MHz	600 MHz	128-bit	9,6 GB/s	4	9.0
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra	475 MHz	900 MHz	128-bit	14.4 GB/s	4	9.0
GeForce FX 5800	400 MHz	900 MHz	128-bit	14.4 GB/s	8	9.0
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra	500 MHz	1 GHz	128-bit	16 GB/s	8	9.0
GeForce FX 5900 XT	390 MHz	680 MHz	256-bit	21.7 GB/s	8	9.0
GeForce FX 5900	400 MHz	850 MHz	256-bit	27.2 GB/s	8	9.0
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra	450 MHz	850 MHz	256-bit	27.2 GB/s	8	9.0
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra	475 MHz	950 MHz	256-bit	30.4 GB/s	8	9.0
GeForce PCX 5300	325 MHz	650 MHz	128-bit	10.4 GB/s	4	9.0
GeForce PCX 5750	475 MHz	900 MHz	128-bit	14.4 GB/s	4	9.0
GeForce PCX 5900	350 MHz	500 MHz	256-bit	17.6 GB/s	8	9.0
GeForce PCX 5950	475 MHz	900 MHz	256-bit	30.4 GB/s	8	9.0
GeForce 6200	300 MHz	550 MHz	128-bit	8.8 GB/s	4	9.0c
GeForce 6200 LE	350 MHz	550 MHz	64-bit	4.4 GB/s	2	9.0c
GeForce 6200 (TC)	350 MHz	666 MHz *	32-bit or 64-bit	2.66 GB/s or 5.32 GB/s *	4	9.0c
GeForce 6500 (TC)	400 MHz	666 MHz *	32-bit or 64-bit	2.66 GB/s or 5.32 GB/s *	4	9.0c
GeForce 6600	300 MHz	550 MHz *	64-bit or 128-bit	4.4 GB/s or 8.8 GB/s *	8	9.0c
GeForce 6600 DDR2	350 MHz	800 MHz *	128-bit	12.8 GB/s *	8	9.0c
GeForce 6600 LE	300 MHz	*	64-bit or 128-bit	*	4	9.0c
GeForce 6600 GT	500 MHz	1 GHz	128-bit	16 GB/s	8	9.0c
GeForce 6600 GT AGP	500 MHz	900 MHz	128-bit	14.4 GB/s	8	9.0c
GeForce 6800 LE	300 MHz	700 MHz	256-bit	22.4 GB/s	8	9.0c
GeForce 6800 XT	325 MHz	600 MHz	256 bits	19.2 GB/s	8	9.0c
GeForce 6800 XT AGP	325 MHz	700 MHz	256 bits	22.4 GB/s	8	9.0c
GeForce 6800	325 MHz	600 MHz	256-bit	19.2 GB/s	12	9.0c
GeForce 6800 AGP	325 MHz	700 MHz	256-bit	22.4 GB/s	12	9.0c
GeForce 6800 GS	425 MHz	1 GHz	256-bit	32 GB/s	12	9.0c
GeForce 6800 GS AGP	350 MHz	1 GHz	256-bit	32 GB/s	12	9.0c
GeForce 6800 GT	350 MHz	1 GHz	256-bit	32 GB/s	16	9.0c
GeForce 6800 Ultra	400 MHz	1.1 GHz	256-bit	35.2 GB/s	16	9.0c
GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme	450 MHz	1.1 GHz	256-bit	35.2 GB/s	16	9.0c
GeForce 7100 GS (TC)	350 MHz	666 MHz *	64-bit	5.3 GB/s *	4	9.0c
GeForce 7200 GS (TC)	450 MHz	800 MHz *	64-bit	6.4 GB/s *	4	9.0c
GeForce 7300 SE (TC)	225 MHz	*	64-bit	*	4	9.0c
GeForce 7300 LE (TC)	450 MHz	648 MHz *	64-bit	5.2 GB/s *	4	9.0c
GeForce 7300 GS (TC)	550 MHz	810 MHz *	64-bit	6.5 GB/s *	4	9.0c
GeForce 7300 GT (TC)	350 MHz	667 MHz	128-bit	10.6 GB/s	8	9.0c
GeForce 7600 GS	400 MHz	800 MHz	128-bit	12.8 GB/s	12	9.0c
GeForce 7600 GT	560 MHz	1.4 GHz	128-bit	22.4 GB/s	12	9.0c
GeForce 7800 GS	375 MHz	1.2 GHz	256-bit	38.4 GB/s	16	9.0c
GeForce 7800 GT	400 MHz	1 GHz	256-bit	32 GB/s	20	9.0c
GeForce 7800 GTX	430 MHz	1.2 GHz	256-bit	38.4 GB/s	24	9.0c
GeForce 7800 GTX 512	550 MHz	1.7 GHz	256-bit	54.4 GB/s	24	9.0c
GeForce 7900 GS	450 MHz	1.32 GHz	256-bit	42.2 GB/s	20	9.0c
GeForce 7900 GT	450 MHz	1.32 GHz	256-bit	42.2 GB/s	24	9.0c
GeForce 7900 GTX	650 MHz	1.6 GHz	256-bit	51.2 GB/s	24	9.0c
GeForce 7950 GT	550 MHz	1.4 GHz	256-bit	44.8 GB/s	24	9.0c
GeForce 7950 GX2 **	500 MHz	1.2 GHz	256-bit	38.4 GB/s	24	9.0c
GeForce 8400 GS ***	450 MHz / 900 MHz	800 MHz	64-bit	6.4 GB/s	16	10
GeForce 8500 GT ***	450 MHz / 900 MHz	666 MHz or 800 MHz	128-bit	10.6 GB/s or 12.8 GB/s	16	10
GeForce 8600 GT DDR2 ***	540 MHz / 1.18 GHz	666 MHz or 800 MHz	128-bit	10.6 GB/s or 12.8 GB/s	32	10
GeForce 8600 GT GDDR3 ***	540 MHz / 1.18 GHz	1.4 GHz	128-bit	22.4 GB/s	32	10
GeForce 8600 GTS ***	675 MHz / 1.45 GHz	2 GHz	128-bit	32 GB/s	32	10
GeForce 8800 GS *** ^	550 MHz / 1,375 MHz	1.6 GHz	192-bit	38.4 GB/s	96	10
GeForce 8800 GT *** ^	600 MHz / 1.5 GHz	1.8 GHz	256-bit	57.6 GB/s	112	10
GeForce 8800 GTS ***	500 MHz / 1.2 GHz	1.6 GHz	320-bit	64 GB/s	96	10
GeForce 8800 GTS 512 *** ^	650 MHz / 1,625 MHz	1.94 GHz	256-bit	62.08 GB/s	128	10
GeForce 8800 GTX ***	575 MHz / 1.35 GHz	1.8 GHz	384-bit	86.4 GB/s	128	10
GeForce 8800 Ultra ***	612 MHz / 1.5 GHz	2.16 GHz	384-bit	103.6 GB/s	128	10
GeForce 9600 GSO *** ^	550 MHz / 1.35 GHz	1.6 GHz	192-bit	38.4 GB/s	96	10
GeForce 9600 GT *** ^	650 MHz / 1,625 MHz	1.8 GHz	256-bit	57.6 GB/s	64	10
GeForce 9800 GTX *** ^	675 MHz / 1,688 MHz	2.2 GHz	256-bit	70.4 GB/s	128	10
GeForce 9800 GTX+ *** ^	738 MHz / 1,836 MHz	2.2 GHz	256-bit	70.4 GB/s	128	10
GeForce 9800 GX2 ** *** ^	600 MHz / 1.5 GHz	2 GHz	256-bit	64 GB/s	128	10
GeForce GTX 260 *** ^	576 MHz / 1,242 MHz	2 GHz	448-bit	112 GB/s	192	10
GeForce GTX 280 *** ^	602 MHz / 1,296 MHz	2.21 GHz	512-bit	141.7 GB/s	240	10

• Click here to see ATI Chips Comparison Table

* The manufacturer can setup a different memory clock rate or interface, so pay attention because not all video cards based on this chip have this spec. The memory transfer rate will depend on the interface and clock rate used. See how to calculate below.

** GeForce 7950 GX2 and GeForce 9800 GX2 use two graphics processors in parallel (SLI mode). The specs published are for just one of the chips.

*** GeForce 8, 9 and 200 series use two clocks, the higher one is used by the shader unit and the lower one by the rest of the chip. The shader unit is unified, meaning that these chips don't have separated pixel shader and vertex shader units. Read our article GeForce 8 Series Architecture for more information.

^ Based on PCI Express 2.0, which doubles the available I/O bandwidth from 2.5 GB/s to 5 GB/s if a PCI Express 2.0 motherboard is used.

(TC) means TurboCache. TurboCache is a technology that allows the video card to simulate more video memory by using part of the main system RAM as video memory. Read our tutorial on this subject for a better understanding on this feature.

At first nVidia’s profusion of letters may seem confusing. The GeForce FX 5700 Ultra chip works at a higher clock than the GeForce FX 5900, GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and GeForce FX 5900 XT chips, and this may make you think that a GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is the faster than chips in the 5900 series.

But that is not really so. Chips from the GeForce FX 5900 series access the memory at 256 bits per time, while the memory is accessed at 128 bits in the FX 5700 series. That makes the 5900 series memory access performance twice as fast as those of the previous series. For instance, the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra would have to access its memory at 1,700 MHz – the double of the memory clock used – to reach the memory performance of the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra.

Another example. From the table you may think GeForce 6600 GT is faster than a GeForce 6800 because it has a higher clock rate (500 MHz against 325 MHz). But GeForce 6800 accesses memory 256 bits at a time while GeForce 6600 GT accesses memory 128 bits at a time, and also GeForce 6800 processes 12 pixels per clock tick, while GeForce 6600 GT processes eight pixels per clock.

The right way to compare the memory performance of different chips is through their memory transfer rate, which is calculated using the formula (clock x bits per clock ) / 8.

Another difference is the graphic processor of the FX 5900 series, which processes eight pixels per clock pulse, while the graphic chip only processes four pixels per clock in the other series. In other words, despite having a higher clock, the graphic processing performance of the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is inferior than those of chips from the FX 5900 series, as they process the double of pixels when work at the same clock (simply put, the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra would have to work at twice its clock to have the same performance of the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra).

Therefore, it is not correct to compare graphic chips only through their clocks.

We must be careful with the GeForce FX 5900 XT, too. While ATI uses the letters "XT" to indicate high-end chips (for ex.: Radeon 9800 XT), nVidia uses the same letters to indicate the low-end chips of the series (see table).

You have to be very carefull with low-end video cards using nVidia chips, because they can use different clock rates and different memory interface from the table. For example, you can find GeForce FX 5200, GeForce FX 5500 and GeForce 6600 with 64-bit or 128-bit interface. We've seen GeForce FX 5200, GeForce FX 5500 and GeForce 6200 with 32-bit interface on the market!

As for the DirectX version, check the table below:

DirectX	Shader Model
7.0	No
8.1	1.4
9.0	2.0
9.0c	3.0
10	4.0

For a detailed discussion on the subject, read our DirectX tutorial.