GeForce GTX 280 vs Geforce GTX 680

Intro

Compare all that to the Geforce GTX 680, which comes with GPU core speed of 1006 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1502 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 1536 SPUs, 128 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Geforce GTX 680		195 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 41 Watts (21%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the Geforce GTX 680 should theoretically be quite a bit better than the GeForce GTX 280 overall. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		192256 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
	Difference: 50560 (36%)

Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 680 should be quite a bit (more or less 167%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 280. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		128768 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 80608 (167%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the Geforce GTX 680 is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		32192 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 12928 (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 max amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.