AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 vs NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data positions these two cards in different performance tiers despite their shared 40 nm manufacturing process and TSMC foundry. The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 delivers a Geekbench OpenCL score of 3977, which is 9.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 545's 3594. This places the AMD card at the 24th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA card sits at the 21st percentile. The AMD card's nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K2000, scores 3964, a 0.3% difference, while the NVIDIA card's closest competitor, the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation, scores 3596, a 0.1% gap. For users prioritizing raw compute throughput in OpenCL workloads, the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 is the clear choice from the data. However, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 offers a dramatically lower power envelope at 70 W versus 254 W, along with a single-slot design and no external power connectors, making it suitable for systems with modest power delivery. The data shows the NVIDIA card is end-of-life with a launch MSRP of 149 USD, while the AMD card has no listed launch MSRP. For buyers constrained by power supply capacity or physical space, the NVIDIA card presents a viable low-profile option. For those needing maximum compute performance regardless of power draw, the AMD card wins outright in the only benchmark available.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher OpenCL benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 scores 3977, which is 9.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 545's score of 3594. The AMD card wins the sole head-to-head benchmark in the data.

Q: How do these cards compare in terms of power consumption?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 has a TDP of 70 W and requires no power connectors, with a suggested PSU of 250 W. The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 has a TDP of 254 W, requires two 8-pin power connectors, and needs a 600 W suggested PSU. The difference is substantial, with the AMD card drawing over three times the power.

Q: What memory configurations do these cards use?

A: The NVIDIA card uses 1536 MB of DDR3 memory on a 192-bit bus with 38.40 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD card uses 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 134.4 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD card's memory bandwidth is 3.5 times higher.

Q: Which card has more shading units and texture mapping units?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 has 960 shading units and 48 TMUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 has 144 shading units and 24 TMUs. The AMD card also has 32 ROPs versus 16 on the NVIDIA card.

Q: What are the pixel and texture fill rates for each card?

A: The AMD card achieves 25.60 GPixel/s pixel rate and 38.40 GTexel/s texture rate. The NVIDIA card achieves 4.320 GPixel/s pixel rate and 17.28 GTexel/s texture rate. The AMD card is approximately 5.9 times faster in pixel throughput and 2.2 times faster in texture throughput.

Q: Which card supports newer API versions?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6. The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 supports DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4. Neither card supports Vulkan according to the data.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 uses the GF116 chip based on the Fermi 2.0 architecture, part of the GeForce 500 generation. The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 uses the Barts chip based on the TeraScale 2 architecture, part of the Northern Islands (HD 6800) generation. Both are fabricated on a 40 nm process at TSMC, but the transistor counts differ significantly. The NVIDIA chip packs 1,170 million transistors on a 238 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 4.9M per mm². The AMD chip contains 1,700 million transistors on a 255 mm² die, resulting in a higher density of 6.7M per mm². This represents a 45% increase in transistor count for the AMD chip, though the die size is only 7% larger. The AMD architecture allocates these transistors to a far larger compute array: 960 shading units versus 144, 48 TMUs versus 24, and 32 ROPs versus 16. The NVIDIA card relies on a smaller, more power-efficient design. The AMD card's TeraScale 2 architecture appears oriented toward parallel throughput, as evidenced by its 1.536 TFLOPS FP32 performance versus 414.7 GFLOPS on the NVIDIA card. The NVIDIA Fermi 2.0 architecture, while less numerically powerful, supports newer API versions including DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, compared to the AMD card's DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4. The NVIDIA card also has a lower memory clock at 800 MHz (1600 Mbps effective) versus the AMD's 1050 MHz (4.2 Gbps effective), but the memory type difference — DDR3 versus GDDR5 — is the more decisive factor in bandwidth.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge across nearly every specification category. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 uses DDR3 memory with 1536 MB capacity on a 192-bit bus, delivering 38.40 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 uses GDDR5 memory with 2 GB capacity on a 256-bit bus, delivering 134.4 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD card's bandwidth advantage is 3.5 times. Pixel rate differs markedly: 4.320 GPixel/s for NVIDIA versus 25.60 GPixel/s for AMD. Texture rate shows 17.28 GTexel/s versus 38.40 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 414.7 GFLOPS versus 1.536 TFLOPS. The NVIDIA card has a 70 W TDP with no power connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU, while the AMD card has a 254 W TDP with two 8-pin connectors and a 600 W suggested PSU. Physical design differs: the NVIDIA card is single-slot with a 145 mm (5.7 inches) length, while the AMD card is dual-slot with no listed dimensions. Display outputs vary: the NVIDIA card offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.3a, and 1x VGA, while the AMD card offers 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.3a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.1. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, while the AMD card supports DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4. Neither card lists Vulkan support. Release dates differ by roughly four months, with the NVIDIA card released May 13, 2011, and the AMD card released September 18, 2011. Both are end-of-life products. The NVIDIA card has a launch MSRP of 149 USD, while the AMD card has no listed launch MSRP. The NVIDIA card's predecessor is GeForce 400 and successor is GeForce 600; the AMD card's predecessor is Evergreen and successor is Southern Islands.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only benchmark in the data is Geekbench OpenCL, where the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 scores 3977 against the NVIDIA GeForce GT 545's 3594. This represents a 9.6% advantage for the AMD card. The delta of 383 points is notable when contextualized against each card's nearest rivals. The NVIDIA card sits within 1.5% of several competitors: it trails the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation by 0.1% (3596), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M by 0.6% (3616), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 by 1% (3629), and the AMD Radeon HD 6770 by 1.5% (3649). This clustering suggests the GT 545 is competitive with a range of mobile and entry-level desktop parts from later generations. The AMD card's nearest rivals are all within 0.6%, including the NVIDIA Quadro K2000 at 3964 (0.3% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce 830M at 3957 (0.5% ahead), the AMD Radeon R5 M420 at 3956 (0.5% ahead), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M at 3953 (0.6% ahead). The AMD card's position at the 24th percentile versus the NVIDIA's 21st percentile indicates a modest but consistent performance tier separation. The compute gap is far larger than the benchmark gap might suggest on paper: the AMD card's FP32 throughput of 1.536 TFLOPS is 3.7 times the NVIDIA's 414.7 GFLOPS, yet the OpenCL score difference is only 9.6%. This suggests that the benchmark is not purely compute-bound, or that the NVIDIA architecture extracts efficiency from its design that the raw FLOP count does not predict. Similarly, the AMD card's memory bandwidth of 134.4 GB/s is 3.5 times higher, yet the score advantage remains under 10%. The pixel rate difference is the most extreme: 25.60 GPixel/s versus 4.320 GPixel/s, a 5.9 times gap. The data indicates that the NVIDIA card, despite its lower raw specifications, achieves competitive OpenCL performance relative to its specification sheet, while the AMD card's substantial hardware advantages translate into a more modest real-world benchmark win. The single benchmark result means the win count is 1 for AMD and 0 for NVIDIA. For workloads that stress the specific capabilities measured by Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD card is the stronger performer. For scenarios where power draw, physical footprint, and connector requirements matter, the NVIDIA card's 70 W TDP and single-slot design present advantages that the benchmark data does not capture.