GeForce GTX 580 vs Radeon HD 3650 256MB

Intro

Compare all that to the Radeon HD 3650 256MB, which features a core clock speed of 725 MHz and a DDR2 memory speed of 800 MHz. It also features a 128-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 55 nm design. It is made up of 120(24x5) SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 3650 256MB		78 Watts
GeForce GTX 580		244 Watts
	Difference: 166 Watts (213%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 580 should theoretically be a lot better than the Radeon HD 3650 256MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		192384 MB/sec
Radeon HD 3650 256MB		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 166784 (652%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 will be quite a bit (about 752%) better at texture filtering than the Radeon HD 3650 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		49408 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3650 256MB		5800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 43608 (752%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 is much (about 1178%) more effective at FSAA than the Radeon HD 3650 256MB, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		37056 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 3650 256MB		2900 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 34156 (1178%)

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 (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, the result 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 AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka 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 get to the maximum fill rate.