GeForce GTS 250 512MB vs Radeon HD 6790

Intro

Compare all that to the Radeon HD 6790, which comes with GPU core speed of 840 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 1050 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 800 SPUs, 40 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
Radeon HD 6790		150 Watts
	Difference: 5 Watts (3%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the Radeon HD 6790 should perform much faster than the GeForce GTS 250 512MB in general. (explain)

Radeon HD 6790		134400 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 64000 (91%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB will be much (about 41%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the Radeon HD 6790. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 6790		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 13632 (41%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 6790 is just a bit (about 14%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

Radeon HD 6790		13440 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1632 (14%)

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 (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. 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 lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.