Radeon HD 3470 512MB vs Radeon R7 240

Intro

Compare that to the Radeon R7 240, which comes with GPU core speed of 730 MHz, and 2048 MB of DDR3 memory set to run at 900 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 320 SPUs, 20 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the Radeon HD 3470 512MB should be 6% faster than the Radeon R7 240 in general, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

Radeon HD 3470 512MB		30400 MB/sec
Radeon R7 240		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 1600 (6%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R7 240 will be much (more or less 356%) better at AF than the Radeon HD 3470 512MB. (explain)

Radeon R7 240		14600 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		3200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 11400 (356%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the Radeon R7 240 is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

Radeon R7 240		5840 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		3200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2640 (83%)

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 max amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.