Radeon HD 4650 512MB vs Radeon R9 280X

Intro

Compare those specs to the Radeon R9 280X, which makes use of a 28 nm design. AMD has clocked the core frequency at 850 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a speed of 1500 MHz on this model. It features 2048 SPUs as well as 128 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4650 512MB		55 Watts
Radeon R9 280X		250 Watts
	Difference: 195 Watts (355%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the Radeon R9 280X will be 1700% faster than the Radeon HD 4650 512MB in general, because of its higher bandwidth. (explain)

Radeon R9 280X		288000 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4650 512MB		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 272000 (1700%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R9 280X is a lot (about 467%) better at anisotropic filtering than the Radeon HD 4650 512MB. (explain)

Radeon R9 280X		108800 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4650 512MB		19200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 89600 (467%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon R9 280X is a lot (approximately 467%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the Radeon HD 4650 512MB, and capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

Radeon R9 280X		27200 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4650 512MB		4800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 22400 (467%)

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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.