GeForce GTX 580 3GB vs Radeon HD 5450

Intro

Compare that to the Radeon HD 5450, which features a core clock frequency of 650 MHz and a DDR3 memory frequency of 800 MHz. It also uses a 64-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is made up of 80(16x5) SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 5450		19 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 225 Watts (1184%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should perform a lot faster than the Radeon HD 5450 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
Radeon HD 5450		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 179584 (1403%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be a lot (more or less 850%) better at AF than the Radeon HD 5450. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 5450		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 44208 (850%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be a lot (approximately 1325%) faster with regards to FSAA than the Radeon HD 5450, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 5450		2600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 34456 (1325%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock 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 applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs 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 fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.