Radeon HD 4550 256MB vs Radeon R9 280

Intro

Compare those specs to the Radeon R9 280, which features a core clock frequency of 933 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1250 MHz. It also uses a 384-bit memory bus, and uses a 28 nm design. It features 1792 SPUs, 112 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB		25 Watts
Radeon R9 280		250 Watts
	Difference: 225 Watts (900%)

Memory Bandwidth

The Radeon R9 280 should theoretically perform a lot faster than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB in general. (explain)

Radeon R9 280		240000 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 227200 (1775%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R9 280 will be a lot (approximately 2077%) more effective at texture filtering than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB. (explain)

Radeon R9 280		104496 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		4800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 99696 (2077%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the Radeon R9 280 is the winner, by far. (explain)

Radeon R9 280		29856 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		2400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 27456 (1144%)

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 data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported past 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 memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, 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 calculated by multiplying the total number 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 video card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.