GeForce 9800M GTS SLI vs Radeon HD 5870

In this comparison between GeForce 9800M GTS SLI and Radeon HD 5870 you will find out which graphics card performs better in today's games. Bear in mind that third-party versions may have more efficient cooling and higher clock speeds. This will increase cards' performance, though not by much. In addition to raw power you should also take into account the dimensions. Thicker models simply will not fit into a small mini-ITX case. The resolution of your monitor also affects the choice, since 4K gameplay requires a more powerful GPU. And don't overspend on the graphics card. Other parts of your build may also need to be upgraded, save some money for the CPU or power supply. For some people GeForce 9800M GTS SLI will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 5870 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

GeForce 9800M GTS SLI is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: GeForce 9800M GTS SLI is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with GeForce 9800M GTS SLI here:

Main Specs

  GeForce 9800M GTS SLI Radeon HD 5870
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 188 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 512 MB 1 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 5870 has 25% more power consumption, than GeForce 9800M GTS SLI.
  • GeForce 9800M GTS SLI has 511 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 5870.
  • GeForce 9800M GTS SLI is used in Laptops, and Radeon HD 5870 - in Desktops.
  • GeForce 9800M GTS SLI is build with G9x architecture, and Radeon HD 5870 - with TeraScale 2.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 5870 is 250 MHz higher, than GeForce 9800M GTS SLI.
  • GeForce 9800M GTS SLI is manufactured by 55/65 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 5870 - by 40 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 5870 is 4000 MHz higher, than GeForce 9800M GTS SLI.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 5−6 10−12
ultra / 1080p 3−4 6−7
QHD / 1440p 0−1 1−2
low / 720p 14−16 24−27
medium / 1080p 7−8 14−16
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 5870 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 100% more, than GeForce 9800M GTS SLI.

Full Specs

  GeForce 9800M GTS SLI Radeon HD 5870
Architecture G9x TeraScale 2
Code name NB9E-GT Cypress
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 15 July 2008 23 September 2009
Pipelines 128 1600
Core clock speed 600 MHz 850 MHz
Transistor count 1508 Million 2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology 55/65 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 68.00
Floating-point performance 2,720.0 gflops
Length 282 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 800 MHz 4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth 153.6 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX DirectX 10, Shader 4.0 11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model 5.0
OpenGL 4.4
OpenCL 1.2
Vulkan N/A
CUDA +
SLI options +
Laptop size large
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