GeForce GTX 850M vs Radeon HD 4550 256MB

Intro

Compare that to the Radeon HD 4550 256MB, which features a core clock frequency of 600 MHz and a DDR3 memory frequency of 800 MHz. It also features a 64-bit bus, and makes use of a 55 nm design. It features 80(16x5) SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB		25 Watts
GeForce GTX 850M		40 Watts
	Difference: 15 Watts (60%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 850M is 150% faster than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB overall, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 850M		32000 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 19200 (150%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 850M will be quite a bit (approximately 630%) faster with regards to AF than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 850M		35040 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		4800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 30240 (630%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 850M should be quite a bit (approximately 484%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB, and also should be able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 850M		14016 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		2400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11616 (484%)

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 largest amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.