GeForce GT 420 vs Radeon HD 4550 512MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 4550 512MB, which uses a 55 nm design. AMD has set the core frequency at 600 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a speed of 800 MHz on this specific model. It features 80(16x5) SPUs as well as 8 TAUs and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4550 512MB		25 Watts
GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (100%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GT 420 should perform quite a bit faster than the Radeon HD 4550 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4550 512MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (125%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 420 should be a bit (more or less 17%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the Radeon HD 4550 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 512MB		4800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 800 (17%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 420 should be a bit (more or less 17%) better at FSAA than the Radeon HD 4550 512MB, and able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4550 512MB		2400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 400 (17%)

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 data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the 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 most pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. 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 quite a few 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.