CUDA vs ATI Stream comparison

Well, not quite happy to say this, but for compute-bound kernels 4870 (not 4870X2) is about 30% faster than GTX280. GTX295 is certainly faster than single 4870 but still much slower than 4870X2. Again, these figures are for compute-bound kernel. Here are some actual benchmarks (higher is better):

GTX280 - 11800

GTX285 - 12500

GTX295 - 21700

  4870 - 15750

 4870X2 - 31000

Problem with ATI is their software and API. You’ll need to spend a lot of time to make things work, and then some more time to make them work fast. CUDA is much more developer-friendly.

Also, I’m not aware of many ATI Stream-enabled products, so if you plan to use third-party software CUDA seems to be better choice.