GeForce GTX 460 2GB vs Radeon HD 3470 512MB

Intro

Compare those specs to the Radeon HD 3470 512MB, which features clock speeds of 800 MHz on the GPU, and 950 MHz on the 512 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 40(8x5) SPUs as well as 4 TAUs and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB will be 279% quicker than the Radeon HD 3470 512MB in general, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		30400 MB/sec
	Difference: 84800 (279%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB should be quite a bit (about 1081%) better at AF than the Radeon HD 3470 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		3200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 34600 (1081%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB will be quite a bit (more or less 575%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the Radeon HD 3470 512MB, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 512MB		3200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 18400 (575%)

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 largest amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the clock 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 also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.