GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs Radeon HD 4750

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 4750, which uses a 40 nm design. AMD has set the core speed at 730 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a frequency of 800 MHz on this specific card. It features 640(128x5) SPUs along with 32 Texture Address Units and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
Radeon HD 4750		75 Watts
	Difference: 28 Watts (60%)

Memory Bandwidth

The Radeon HD 4750, in theory, should be a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

Radeon HD 4750		51200 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 38400 (300%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 4750 is much (more or less 170%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

Radeon HD 4750		23360 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 14720 (170%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 4750 should be quite a bit (more or less 170%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

Radeon HD 4750		11680 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7360 (170%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the better 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly record to the 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 the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.