Radeon HD 4550 256MB vs Radeon HD 6950

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 6950, which features a clock frequency of 800 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1250 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 1408 SPUs, 88 Texture Address Units, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB		25 Watts
Radeon HD 6950		200 Watts
	Difference: 175 Watts (700%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the Radeon HD 6950 should be quite a bit faster than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB in general. (explain)

Radeon HD 6950		160000 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 147200 (1150%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 6950 will be quite a bit (more or less 1367%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB. (explain)

Radeon HD 6950		70400 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		4800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 65600 (1367%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the Radeon HD 6950 is superior to the Radeon HD 4550 256MB, and very much so. (explain)

Radeon HD 6950		25600 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		2400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 23200 (967%)

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 largest amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core 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 many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.