GeForce GTX 660 vs Radeon R9 390X 8G

Intro

Compare that to the Radeon R9 390X 8G, which comes with a core clock frequency of 1050 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1500 MHz. It also uses a 512-bit bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It is made up of 2816 SPUs, 176 TAUs, and 64 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Benchmarks

These are real-world performance benchmarks that were submitted by Hardware Compare users. The scores seen here are the average of all benchmarks submitted for each respective test and hardware.

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics Score

Radeon R9 390X 8G		13555 points
GeForce GTX 660		5063 points
	Difference: 8492 (168%)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 660		140 Watts
Radeon R9 390X 8G		275 Watts
	Difference: 135 Watts (96%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the Radeon R9 390X 8G should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GTX 660 overall. (explain)

Radeon R9 390X 8G		384000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 660		144192 MB/sec
	Difference: 239808 (166%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R9 390X 8G should be a lot (about 136%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 660. (explain)

Radeon R9 390X 8G		184800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 660		78400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 106400 (136%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon R9 390X 8G will be quite a bit (about 186%) more effective at AA than the GeForce GTX 660, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

Radeon R9 390X 8G		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 660		23520 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 43680 (186%)

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 maximum amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video 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 the video card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends 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.