Radeon HD 4870 2GB vs Radeon RX 470 4GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon RX 470 4GB, which uses a 14 nm design. AMD has set the core frequency at 926 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a frequency of 1650 MHz on this model. It features 2048 SPUs as well as 128 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon RX 470 4GB		120 Watts
Radeon HD 4870 2GB		150 Watts
	Difference: 30 Watts (25%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the Radeon RX 470 4GB should be 83% quicker than the Radeon HD 4870 2GB overall, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

Radeon RX 470 4GB		211200 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4870 2GB		115200 MB/sec
	Difference: 96000 (83%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon RX 470 4GB should be a lot (more or less 295%) faster with regards to AF than the Radeon HD 4870 2GB. (explain)

Radeon RX 470 4GB		118528 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4870 2GB		30000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 88528 (295%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the Radeon RX 470 4GB is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

Radeon RX 470 4GB		29632 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4870 2GB		12000 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 17632 (147%)

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 information (counted in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 can be applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock 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 processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.