GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 vs Radeon HD 4890 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 4890 1GB, which features GPU core speed of 1000 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 975 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 800(160x5) Stream Processors, 40 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4890 1GB		190 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		202 Watts
	Difference: 12 Watts (6%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the Radeon HD 4890 1GB should be 12% faster than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 in general, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

Radeon HD 4890 1GB		124800 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		111888 MB/sec
	Difference: 12912 (12%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is a bit (more or less 4%) better at AF than the Radeon HD 4890 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		41472 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4890 1GB		40000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 1472 (4%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is a bit (approximately 1%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the Radeon HD 4890 1GB, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		16128 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4890 1GB		16000 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 128 (1%)

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 (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines 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 many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.