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CUDA Cores vrs Stream Processors

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Methal

Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2008
Location
DC
whats the freaking difference?

I've got a budget of 1200 bucks to make a gaming system on a mITX scale.

Trying to decide what graphics card will give me the best bang for my buck.

I've looked at half a dozen different benchmarks, and come to realize that each web site has a different answer.

so looking into things myself.

whats the difference between a card with 1300 cuda cores, and a card with 1300 stream procs?

are they the same thing?
 
They're not directly comparable. It's like trying to compare an Intel core vs an AMD core.

GPUs are massively parallel. While your CPU has 4 very fast cores, your GPU has several hundred slower cores.

The only good way to find the difference is to look at benchmarks. Since these benchmarks are only updated whenever major GPU or driver releases come out, you have to find the most RECENT benchmark and use that.

This is the most recent one that is referenced here: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/
 
In those results It shows the 7870 getting beat by the 660 TI. Yet at anandtech the 660TI get beat by the 7870. Over at toms hardware (ugh) the 660 ti is the "end all be all" card to get.
 
GPUs vary. "Stock" GPU clocks vary.
Game tests vary.
CPUs used to test GPUs vary, as does RAM, OS settings, and tons of other stuff.
Drivers will make a huge difference, and they change over time.

A CUDA core and a stream processor both do exactly the same job, but they do it differently and via different methods.
They aren't comparable.
 
In those results It shows the 7870 getting beat by the 660 TI. Yet at anandtech the 660TI get beat by the 7870. Over at toms hardware (ugh) the 660 ti is the "end all be all" card to get.

Which drivers did they test with? AMD's cards performed significantly worse when they were first released. The review I posted was specifically made to make comparisons using AMD's 12.11 drivers which provides a significant performance boost. Make sure to check the date of the article when making comparisons and reference it with the change log for driver updates from both AMD and NVIDIA. Also make sure to look at the resolution that you're going to be playing at.
 
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