Compare any two graphics cards:
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB vs Radeon HD 3870 1GB
IntroThe GeForce 9800 GT 512MB features a GPU clock speed of 600 MHz, and the 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM is set to run at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 112 SPUs, 56 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.Compare those specs to the Radeon HD 3870 1GB, which uses a 55 nm design. AMD has set the core frequency at 775 MHz. The GDDR4 RAM works at a frequency of 1125 MHz on this specific card. It features 320(64x5) SPUs along with 16 TAUs and 16 ROPs.
Display Graphs
Power Usage and Theoretical BenchmarksPower Consumption (Max TDP)
Memory BandwidthPerformance-wise, the Radeon HD 3870 1GB should in theory be much superior to the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB in general. (explain)
Texel RateThe GeForce 9800 GT 512MB should be quite a bit (about 171%) more effective at texture filtering than the Radeon HD 3870 1GB. (explain)
Pixel RateIf using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the Radeon HD 3870 1GB 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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics 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 amount of pixels the video card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the card's 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 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 get to the maximum 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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