GeForce GTX 550 Ti vs Radeon HD 3650 256MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 3650 256MB, which features a core clock frequency of 725 MHz and a DDR2 memory speed of 800 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit bus, and uses a 55 nm design. It is made up of 120(24x5) SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 3650 256MB		78 Watts
GeForce GTX 550 Ti		116 Watts
	Difference: 38 Watts (49%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 550 Ti should in theory be a lot better than the Radeon HD 3650 256MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 550 Ti		98496 MB/sec
Radeon HD 3650 256MB		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 72896 (285%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 550 Ti will be much (approximately 397%) better at AF than the Radeon HD 3650 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 550 Ti		28800 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3650 256MB		5800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 23000 (397%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 550 Ti is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 550 Ti		21600 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 3650 256MB		2900 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 18700 (645%)

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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, 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 high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core 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 of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.