GeForce GTS 150 vs Radeon HD 3470 512MB

Intro

Compare all of that to the Radeon HD 3470 512MB, which makes use of a 55 nm design. AMD has set the core speed at 800 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 950 MHz on this particular card. It features 40(8x5) SPUs along with 4 TAUs and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTS 150 should be a small bit faster than the Radeon HD 3470 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		32000 MB/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		30400 MB/sec
	Difference: 1600 (5%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 150 should be quite a bit (more or less 1380%) better at texture filtering than the Radeon HD 3470 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		47360 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		3200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 44160 (1380%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 150 is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		11840 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		3200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 8640 (270%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's 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 bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka 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 bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.