GeForce GTX 460 vs Radeon HD 4890 2GB

Intro

Compare all that to the Radeon HD 4890 2GB, which features GPU core speed of 1000 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 975 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 800(160x5) SPUs, 40 Texture Address Units, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 460		150 Watts
Radeon HD 4890 2GB		190 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (27%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the Radeon HD 4890 2GB should theoretically be much superior to the GeForce GTX 460 in general. (explain)

Radeon HD 4890 2GB		124800 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 460		86400 MB/sec
	Difference: 38400 (44%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 4890 2GB is a bit (about 6%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 460. (explain)

Radeon HD 4890 2GB		40000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2200 (6%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 is the winner, but only just. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		16200 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4890 2GB		16000 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 200 (1%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better 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 number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes 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, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.