Radeon HD 4850 512MB vs Radeon HD 5770

Intro

Compare those specs to the Radeon HD 5770, which features a GPU core clock speed of 850 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1200 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 800(160x5) SPUs, 40 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Battlefield Bad Company 2

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 4850 512MB		30 FPS
Radeon HD 5770		30 FPS
	Difference: 0 FPS (0%)

F.E.A.R. 2

Settings:	Maximum Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Unknown (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		74 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		61 FPS
	Difference: 13 FPS (21%)

Fallout 3

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		54 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		40 FPS
	Difference: 14 FPS (35%)

Fallout 3

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1680x1050
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		68 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		55 FPS
	Difference: 13 FPS (24%)

Left4Dead

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		66 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		54 FPS
	Difference: 12 FPS (22%)

Left4Dead

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		70 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		59 FPS
	Difference: 11 FPS (19%)

Left4Dead 2

Settings:	Very High
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		70 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		59 FPS
	Difference: 11 FPS (19%)

Mass Effect 2

Settings:	Maximum Quality
AA:	none
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		87 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		69 FPS
	Difference: 18 FPS (26%)

Supreme Commander 2

Settings:	High
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		62 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		46 FPS
	Difference: 16 FPS (35%)

Tom Clancy's Endwar

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		28 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		24 FPS
	Difference: 4 FPS (17%)

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1680x1050
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		37 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		29 FPS
	Difference: 8 FPS (28%)

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Radeon HD 5770 wins

(Based entirely on the benchmarks listed above)

When combining all game benchmark scores on this page together, the Radeon HD 5770 wins overall, by 120 FPS. Please note that we do not have the results of every benchmark ever done for these cards, so the results may differ wildly in different games.

Radeon HD 5770		646 FPS
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		526 FPS
	Difference: 120 FPS (23%)

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 5770		108 Watts
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		110 Watts
	Difference: 2 Watts (2%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the Radeon HD 5770 should be 21% faster than the Radeon HD 4850 512MB in general, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

Radeon HD 5770		76800 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		63552 MB/sec
	Difference: 13248 (21%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 5770 is quite a bit (approximately 36%) better at texture filtering than the Radeon HD 4850 512MB. (explain)

Radeon HD 5770		34000 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		25000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 9000 (36%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 5770 should be much (more or less 36%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the Radeon HD 4850 512MB, and also will be able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

Radeon HD 5770		13600 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4850 512MB		10000 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3600 (36%)

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 data (counted in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 are processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's 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 also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.