GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs Radeon HD 6950

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 6950, which uses a 40 nm design. AMD has clocked the core frequency at 800 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a frequency of 1250 MHz on this specific card. It features 1408 SPUs along with 88 Texture Address Units and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 6950		200 Watts
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		350 Watts
	Difference: 150 Watts (75%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB should theoretically be much faster than the Radeon HD 6950 overall. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		934298 MB/sec
Radeon HD 6950		160000 MB/sec
	Difference: 774298 (484%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB should be quite a bit (more or less 401%) more effective at AF than the Radeon HD 6950. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		352800 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 6950		70400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 282400 (401%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB should be a lot (more or less 451%) faster with regards to FSAA than the Radeon HD 6950, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		141120 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 6950		25600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 115520 (451%)

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 max amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one 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 graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.