GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs Radeon HD 3850 256MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 3850 256MB, which features core clock speeds of 668 MHz on the GPU, and 828 MHz on the 256 MB of GDDR3 RAM. It features 320(64x5) SPUs along with 16 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 3850 256MB		75 Watts
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		120 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (60%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB should be 271% faster than the Radeon HD 3850 256MB overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		196608 MB/sec
Radeon HD 3850 256MB		52992 MB/sec
	Difference: 143616 (271%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB will be quite a bit (about 915%) faster with regards to AF than the Radeon HD 3850 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		108432 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3850 256MB		10688 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 97744 (915%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB should be a lot (approximately 576%) faster with regards to FSAA than the Radeon HD 3850 256MB, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		72288 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 3850 256MB		10688 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 61600 (576%)

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 information (counted in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high 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 by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.