GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs Radeon HD 6450 (OEM)

Intro

Compare that to the Radeon HD 6450 (OEM), which has a core clock frequency of 625 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 800 MHz. It also makes use of a 64-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 160 SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 6450 (OEM)		31 Watts
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
	Difference: 19 Watts (61%)

Memory Bandwidth

Both cards have exactly the same bandwidth, so in theory they should have identical performance. (explain)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 6450 (OEM) should be a bit (about 14%) better at AF than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

Radeon HD 6450 (OEM)		5000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 600 (14%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 6450 (OEM) should be just a bit (approximately 14%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, and also should be able to handle higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

Radeon HD 6450 (OEM)		2500 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 300 (14%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.