GeForce GTX 460 1GB vs GeForce GTX 960

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 960, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 1127 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a frequency of 1750 MHz on this specific model. It features 1024 SPUs as well as 64 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 960		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (33%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 460 1GB should be 3% faster than the GeForce GTX 960 in general, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 960		112000 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (3%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 960 is a lot (approximately 91%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		72128 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 34328 (91%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 960 should be a lot (about 67%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, and should be capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		36064 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 14464 (67%)

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 information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card 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 number of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.