GeForce GTX 460 2GB vs Radeon HD 4550 256MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 4550 256MB, which features a core clock frequency of 600 MHz and a DDR3 memory frequency of 800 MHz. It also uses a 64-bit memory bus, and uses a 55 nm design. It features 80(16x5) SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB		25 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 135 Watts (540%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB should be quite a bit faster than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 102400 (800%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB should be quite a bit (more or less 688%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		4800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 33000 (688%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is superior to the Radeon HD 4550 256MB, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		2400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19200 (800%)

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 transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better 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 a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called 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.