GeForce GT 320 vs Radeon HD 3870 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 3870 1GB, which comes with a clock frequency of 775 MHz and a GDDR4 memory frequency of 1125 MHz. It also features a 256-bit bus, and makes use of a 55 nm design. It is comprised of 320(64x5) SPUs, 16 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 320		43 Watts
Radeon HD 3870 1GB		106 Watts
	Difference: 63 Watts (147%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the Radeon HD 3870 1GB should be 185% faster than the GeForce GT 320 overall, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

Radeon HD 3870 1GB		72000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 320		25280 MB/sec
	Difference: 46720 (185%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 320 should be just a bit (approximately 5%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the Radeon HD 3870 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		12960 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3870 1GB		12400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 560 (5%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the Radeon HD 3870 1GB is superior to the GeForce GT 320, and very much so. (explain)

Radeon HD 3870 1GB		12400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 320		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 8080 (187%)

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 maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. 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 get to the max fill rate.