GeForce GT 220 GDDR3 vs Radeon HD 3470 512MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 3470 512MB, which features GPU core speed of 800 MHz, and 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 950 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 40(8x5) Stream Processors, 4 TAUs, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GT 220 GDDR3 should in theory be just a bit better than the Radeon HD 3470 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 220 GDDR3		32384 MB/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		30400 MB/sec
	Difference: 1984 (7%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 220 GDDR3 is much (approximately 213%) better at AF than the Radeon HD 3470 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GT 220 GDDR3		10000 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		3200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6800 (213%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 220 GDDR3 will be much (approximately 56%) faster with regards to AA than the Radeon HD 3470 512MB, and also able to handle higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GT 220 GDDR3		5000 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		3200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1800 (56%)

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 information (counted in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

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