wolf, it depends on how the chip and its drivers work, a little example, the kyro2
http://www.tomshardware.com/2001/04/25/a_speedy_tiler/page2.html
due to the rendering method used it could get away with sdr ram insted of pricy ddr, this is tad ammount to 128bit vs 256bit or 256bit vs 512bit memory enterfaces.
as to rops, as the x19*0 cards showd even when nvidia added more rops they didnt win the battle, again its all in how the hardware is used, the current 2900/38*0 cards have a design miss caculation that means they never get fully exploited by current games, but the Rops are not the problem as i understand it, its the fact that you gotta code spicificly to take advantege of the way ati layed the current chips out or u dont see the benifit of the massive number of shaders, this could easly change if they do things properly.
I hope the next ati line rock and like the kyro2 proove to be an example of efficent elegant design insted of the nvidia bruit force method(anybody can do bruit force.....its just expencive)