GeForce GT 310 vs Radeon HD 4550 256MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 4550 256MB, which features GPU clock speed of 600 MHz, and 256 MB of DDR3 RAM set to run at 800 MHz through a 64-bit bus. It also is comprised of 80(16x5) SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB		25 Watts
GeForce GT 310		31 Watts
	Difference: 6 Watts (24%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GT 310 should in theory be quite a bit better than the Radeon HD 4550 256MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 310		16000 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4550 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (25%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 4550 256MB should be just a bit (more or less 2%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 310. (explain)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB		4800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 310		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 88 (2%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 4550 256MB should be just a bit (about 2%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 310, and will be able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

Radeon HD 4550 256MB		2400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 310		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 44 (2%)

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 largest amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

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