Compare any two graphics cards:
VS

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs Radeon HD 4550 256MB

Intro

The GeForce 9400 GT 256MB has a GPU clock speed of 550 MHz, and the 256 MB of GDDR2 memory runs at 400 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 16 SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 4550 256MB, which makes use of a 55 nm design. AMD has set the core frequency at 600 MHz. The DDR3 RAM is set to run at a frequency of 800 MHz on this specific model. It features 80(16x5) SPUs along with 8 TAUs and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB 25 Watts
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB 50 Watts
Difference: 25 Watts (100%)

Memory Bandwidth

Both cards have the exact same memory bandwidth, so theoretically they should have identical performance. (explain)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 4550 256MB will be a small bit (approximately 9%) better at AF than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB 4800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB 4400 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 400 (9%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 4550 256MB should be a little bit (approximately 9%) better at AA than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, and will be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB 2400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB 2200 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 200 (9%)

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

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Radeon HD 4550 256MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

Display Specifications

Hide Specifications

Model GeForce 9400 GT 256MB Radeon HD 4550 256MB
Manufacturer nVidia AMD
Year August 2008 Sep 30, 2008
Code Name G96a RV710
Memory 256 MB 256 MB
Core Speed 550 MHz 600 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz 1600 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 50 watts 25 watts
Bandwidth 12800 MB/sec 12800 MB/sec
Texel Rate 4400 Mtexels/sec 4800 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 2200 Mpixels/sec 2400 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 16 80(16x5)
Texture Mapping Units 8 8
Render Output Units 4 4
Bus Type GDDR2 DDR3
Bus Width 128-bit 64-bit
Fab Process 65 nm 55 nm
Transistors 314 million 242 million
Bus PCIe x16 2.0, PCI PCIe 2.0 x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 10.1
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 3.0

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 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 anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video 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 chip can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Radeon HD 4550 256MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Comments

Be the first to leave a comment!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*

WordPress Anti Spam by WP-SpamShield