GeForce GTX 460 (OEM) vs Radeon HD 3470 256MB

Intro

Compare all of that to the Radeon HD 3470 256MB, which makes use of a 55 nm design. AMD has set the core speed at 800 MHz. The DDR2 memory runs at a frequency of 950 MHz on this card. It features 40(8x5) SPUs as well as 4 TAUs and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 460 (OEM) should theoretically be quite a bit faster than the Radeon HD 3470 256MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 (OEM)		108800 MB/sec
Radeon HD 3470 256MB		30400 MB/sec
	Difference: 78400 (258%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 (OEM) is much (approximately 1038%) faster with regards to AF than the Radeon HD 3470 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 (OEM)		36400 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 256MB		3200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 33200 (1038%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 (OEM) should be quite a bit (about 550%) better at anti-aliasing than the Radeon HD 3470 256MB, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 (OEM)		20800 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 256MB		3200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 17600 (550%)

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 maximum amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If 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 higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.