GeForce 820M vs Radeon HD 3470 256MB

Intro

Compare those specs to the Radeon HD 3470 256MB, which features GPU clock speed of 800 MHz, and 256 MB of DDR2 RAM set to run at 950 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 40(8x5) SPUs, 4 TAUs, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Memory Bandwidth

The Radeon HD 3470 256MB, in theory, should be much faster than the GeForce 820M in general. (explain)

Radeon HD 3470 256MB		30400 MB/sec
GeForce 820M		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 14400 (90%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 820M is a lot (about 260%) faster with regards to AF than the Radeon HD 3470 256MB. (explain)

GeForce 820M		11504 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 256MB		3200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8304 (260%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the Radeon HD 3470 256MB is the winner, though not by far. (explain)

Radeon HD 3470 256MB		3200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 820M		2876 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 324 (11%)

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 maximum amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one 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 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 graphics card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.