Compare any two graphics cards:
Radeon HD 3870 512MB vs Radeon HD 4850 1GB
IntroThe Radeon HD 3870 512MB makes use of a 55 nm design. AMD has clocked the core frequency at 775 MHz. The GDDR3 memory works at a frequency of 900 MHz on this specific card. It features 320(64x5) SPUs as well as 16 TAUs and 16 ROPs.Compare all that to the Radeon HD 4850 1GB, which has a core clock frequency of 625 MHz and a GDDR4 memory frequency of 993 MHz. It also features a 256-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 55 nm design. It is comprised of 800(160x5) SPUs, 40 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.
Display Graphs
Power Usage and Theoretical BenchmarksPower Consumption (Max TDP)
Memory BandwidthIn theory, the Radeon HD 4850 1GB will be 10% faster than the Radeon HD 3870 512MB in general, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)
Texel RateThe Radeon HD 4850 1GB is a lot (approximately 102%) better at anisotropic filtering than the Radeon HD 3870 512MB. (explain)
Pixel RateIf running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the Radeon HD 3870 512MB is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)
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
Display Prices
Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though. Specifications
Display Specifications
Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions. Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second. Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called 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, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.
Display Prices
Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.
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