GeForce GTS 250 512MB vs Radeon HD 4650 512MB

Intro

Compare all of that to the Radeon HD 4650 512MB, which uses a 55 nm design. AMD has set the core speed at 600 MHz. The DDR2 memory runs at a speed of 500 MHz on this card. It features 320(64x5) SPUs along with 32 TAUs and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4650 512MB		55 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
	Difference: 90 Watts (164%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should in theory be quite a bit faster than the Radeon HD 4650 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4650 512MB		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 54400 (340%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be quite a bit (about 146%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the Radeon HD 4650 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4650 512MB		19200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 28032 (146%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be a lot (about 146%) more effective at AA than the Radeon HD 4650 512MB, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4650 512MB		4800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7008 (146%)

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 megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of 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 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 get to the maximum fill rate.