GeForce GT 420 vs Radeon HD 3470 512MB

Intro

Compare all of that to the Radeon HD 3470 512MB, which makes use of a 55 nm design. AMD has clocked the core frequency at 800 MHz. The GDDR3 memory works at a frequency of 950 MHz on this model. It features 40(8x5) SPUs as well as 4 TAUs and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the Radeon HD 3470 512MB will be 6% quicker than the GeForce GT 420 in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

Radeon HD 3470 512MB		30400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 1600 (6%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 420 is a lot (about 75%) more effective at AF than the Radeon HD 3470 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		3200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2400 (75%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 3470 512MB is just a bit (approximately 14%) better at AA than the GeForce GT 420, and also will be able to handle higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

Radeon HD 3470 512MB		3200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 400 (14%)

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 maximum amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.