GeForce GTX 280 vs GeForce GTX 560

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 560, which features a GPU core clock speed of 810 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 1001 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 336 SPUs, 56 Texture Address Units, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 560		150 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 86 Watts (57%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 280 should be a small bit faster than the GeForce GTX 560 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 560		128128 MB/sec
	Difference: 13568 (11%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 is a small bit (approximately 6%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 560. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 560		45360 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2800 (6%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 560 is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560		25920 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6656 (35%)

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 transported across the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many 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.