Radeon HD 4550 256MB vs Radeon R9 M390X

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon R9 M390X, which uses a 28 nm design. AMD has clocked the core speed at 723 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a speed of 1250 MHz on this model. It features 2048 SPUs as well as 128 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB		25 Watts
Radeon R9 M390X		125 Watts
	Difference: 100 Watts (400%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the Radeon R9 M390X should be 1150% quicker than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB in general, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

Radeon R9 M390X		160000 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 147200 (1150%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R9 M390X will be much (more or less 1828%) more effective at AF than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB. (explain)

Radeon R9 M390X		92544 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		4800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 87744 (1828%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the Radeon R9 M390X is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

Radeon R9 M390X		23136 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		2400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 20736 (864%)

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 within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core 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 could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.