Compare any two graphics cards:
Radeon HD 3870 X2 512MB vs Radeon HD 4850 2GB
IntroThe Radeon HD 3870 X2 512MB features a clock speed of 825 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also features a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 55 nm design. It is made up of 320(64x5) SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 16 ROPs.Compare all that to the Radeon HD 4850 2GB, which uses a 55 nm design. AMD has set the core frequency at 625 MHz. The GDDR4 memory works at a frequency of 993 MHz on this particular card. It features 800(160x5) SPUs along with 40 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.
Display Graphs
Power Usage and Theoretical BenchmarksMemory BandwidthAs far as performance goes, the Radeon HD 3870 X2 512MB should in theory be a lot superior to the Radeon HD 4850 2GB overall. (explain)
Texel RateThe Radeon HD 3870 X2 512MB should be a little bit (more or less 6%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the Radeon HD 4850 2GB. (explain)
Pixel RateThe Radeon HD 3870 X2 512MB will be much (about 164%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the Radeon HD 4850 2GB, and also will be able to handle higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (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. One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of. 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 max amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions. Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are 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 better the texel rate, the better the 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 number of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach 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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