NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M

The NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M is a mobile GPU based on the Tesla architecture and the G92B chip, produced by TSMC on a 55 nm process. It belongs to the Quadro FX Mobile (x800M) generation, was released on 2008-08-13, and is listed as end-of-life. Its recorded predecessor is the Quadro FX Go and its successor is the Quadro Fermi-M. The database places it at the 50th percentile versus all GPUs, while the average benchmark score is recorded as 0 and the benchmarks array is empty, so the performance story is built from architectural and memory figures rather than measured entries.

Power and Cooling — TDP, PSU recommendation, connector requirements

The Quadro FX 3800M carries a TDP of 100 W. For a mobile module, that is a substantial thermal envelope, and the laptop cooling solution must be capable of dissipating that heat from the MXM Module form factor. The power connectors field is listed as "None", meaning the GPU does not require auxiliary PCIe power leads; all power delivery is handled through the MXM-B (3.0) bus interface. The dataset does not include a suggested PSU value, which is consistent with a notebook-bound part rather than a desktop card requiring a separate power supply.

The chip is implemented on TSMC's 55 nm process with 754 million transistors in a 260 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 2.9 M / mm². Those figures put the 100 W TDP in context: it comes from a 55 nm-era design with a high transistor count for a mobile product. The physical integration is specified as an MXM Module with an MXM-B (3.0) interface, so installation is tied to systems built for that connector standard. Because the slot width is given only as MXM Module, there is no full-height or half-height desktop bracket information. The thermal and power story is simple: one 100 W module, no direct power connectors, and a cooling requirement defined by the MXM host platform.

Who Should Consider It

With a percentileVsAllGpus of 50, the Quadro FX 3800M sits at the midpoint of the all-GPU distribution in the database. That makes it a median-positioned mobile GPU rather than a high-end or entry-level part. Because the benchmark list is empty, any usage guidance has to be derived from the listed compute and memory rates rather than from recorded frame times.

The GPU provides 128 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The pixel rate is 10.80 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 43.20 GTexel/s, while FP32 throughput is 422.4 GFLOPS. These figures describe a part with moderate rasterization throughput, suitable for display resolutions and settings that do not demand extreme fill rates. The 1024 MB GDDR3 memory and 64.00 GB/s bandwidth further constrain the intended workload envelope. Users with professional mobile workloads that fit within 1 GB of memory and can operate within 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth are the audience for this GPU.

The 100 W TDP means it belongs in systems built for mobile workstation-class modules, not in low-power thin-and-light designs. The release date of 2008-08-13 and end-of-life status indicate a legacy product. Potential users should expect support for the listed API generation: DirectX 11.1 (10_0) and OpenGL 3.3, with no Vulkan support recorded. The 50th percentile standing suggests mid-pack performance in the broader GPU population, but the empty benchmark array means exact settings recommendations cannot be validated from the dataset.

Memory Subsystem

The Quadro FX 3800M ships with 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory. The memory bus is 256 bit wide, and the memory clock is 1000 MHz, which is also expressed as 2 Gbps effective. The resulting memory bandwidth is 64.00 GB/s.

For high-resolution work, the 1024 MB capacity is the first constraint. A 1 GB frame buffer can store a moderate amount of color, depth, and render-target data, but large textures and multi-sample workloads can quickly exceed it. The 256-bit interface and 64.00 GB/s bandwidth determine how quickly texture and vertex data can be moved into the shading units. At 1000 MHz / 2 Gbps effective, this memory pipeline is a fixed resource that cannot be expanded.

The interaction between memory and the rest of the GPU is important. The 16 ROPs set a pixel-fill ceiling of 10.80 GPixel/s, and the 64 TMUs set a texture-fill ceiling of 43.20 GTexel/s. Feeding those units requires enough bandwidth; 64.00 GB/s provides a balanced pipeline for the era represented by this 55 nm Tesla design. The memory type is GDDR3, not a newer standard, and the capacity is fixed at 1024 MB. For high-resolution scenes with heavy texture streaming, the bandwidth will be the limiting factor after the frame buffer is filled.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals array for the Quadro FX 3800M is empty. Therefore, the dataset provides no direct rival names, no score values, and no deltaPct figures to report. This section cannot produce one-paragraph comparisons per rival because none are recorded.

The only positional comparison available is percentileVsAllGpus: 50. That places the GPU exactly at the midpoint of the database's all-GPU percentile ladder. The product lineage identifies a predecessor, the Quadro FX Go, and a successor, the Quadro Fermi-M, but no performance difference is recorded for either. Without nearestRivals data, any competitive ranking would be unsupported by the supplied facts. The empty benchmarks array reinforces that there are no measured scores to place alongside other GPUs. Thus, the Quadro FX 3800M's position is defined by its 50th percentile standing and its architectural descriptors rather than by head-to-head database comparisons.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmarks field is empty, and the average benchmark score is 0. This 0 is not an indication of zero performance; it is the arithmetic result of an empty set of entries. The percentileVsAllGpus of 50 is the only score-like metric, and it ranks the GPU at the midpoint of all GPUs in the database despite the absence of benchmark rows.

Theoretical throughput figures provide the best available performance ceiling. The GPU is rated for 422.4 GFLOPS of FP32 compute, 10.80 GPixel/s of pixel fill, and 43.20 GTexel/s of texture fill. Those rates come from 128 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The memory subsystem contributes 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient to keep the shading units supplied at mainstream resolutions but may be stretched by high-detail frames.

No deltaPct values can be computed relative to any other product because the nearestRivals list is empty. Base, boost, and game clocks are all recorded as null in the data; the only clock figure is the memory clock at 1000 MHz / 2 Gbps effective. Consequently, the performance analysis is limited to the listed theoretical rates and the 50th percentile rank. The 422.4 GFLOPS figure in particular is the hard FP32 ceiling for shader and general compute operations.

FAQ

Q: What chip and architecture does the Quadro FX 3800M use?

A: It uses the G92B chip on the Tesla architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 55 nm process. The die contains 754 million transistors and measures 260 mm², for a transistor density of 2.9 M / mm².

Q: How much memory does it have and what is the bus width?

A: It has 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory on a 256-bit bus. The memory clock is 1000 MHz / 2 Gbps effective, producing 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What is the TDP and what power connectors are required?

A: The TDP is 100 W. The power connectors field is "None", and power is delivered through the MXM-B (3.0) interface on an MXM Module.

Q: Does the GPU support ray tracing or Vulkan?

A: No RT cores and no tensor cores are listed. Vulkan support is null. The supported APIs are DirectX 11.1 (10_0) and OpenGL 3.3.

Q: When was it released and is it still in production?

A: It was released on 2008-08-13 and is end-of-life. Its predecessor is the Quadro FX Go and its successor is the Quadro Fermi-M.

Q: What do the benchmark results show?

A: The benchmarks array is empty and the average benchmark score is 0. The percentile versus all GPUs is 50, placing it at the midpoint of the database distribution.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The Quadro FX 3800M has no dedicated ray tracing cores and no tensor cores; both fields are null. This means there is no hardware-accelerated ray tracing resource and no tensor core block for AI-style workloads. The feature set is instead built around the general-purpose Tesla architecture with 128 shading units.

API support is listed as DirectX 11.1 (10_0) and OpenGL 3.3, with Vulkan support recorded as null. The DirectX field includes the feature-level notation 10_0, indicating that the driver surface exposes a DirectX 11.1 API while the hardware feature level is at the 10_0 level. The OpenGL support is 3.3, defining the shading and rendering capabilities available for OpenGL workloads. The lack of Vulkan support is consistent with a GPU from the 2008-08-13 release window.

The rendering pipeline is defined by 64 TMUs and 16 ROPs, providing 43.20 GTexel/s of texture fill and 10.80 GPixel/s of pixel fill. FP32 throughput is 422.4 GFLOPS, which is the ceiling for general-purpose shader work. Display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent", meaning the actual connectors and display configurations are determined by the laptop implementation rather than by the GPU itself. The physical interface is MXM-B (3.0), and the module is specified as an MXM Module. In summary, this is a legacy mobile workstation GPU with a mid-pack 50th percentile standing, a 100 W envelope, 1024 MB GDDR3, and no RT or tensor core hardware.