GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 vs Geforce GTX 680

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Geforce GTX 680, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 1006 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a speed of 1502 MHz on this specific model. It features 1536 SPUs along with 128 TAUs 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 260 Core 216		202 Watts
	Difference: 7 Watts (4%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the Geforce GTX 680 should theoretically be much better than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 in general. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		192256 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		111888 MB/sec
	Difference: 80368 (72%)

Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 680 is much (about 210%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		128768 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		41472 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 87296 (210%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the Geforce GTX 680 is superior to the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, and very much so. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		32192 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		16128 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16064 (100%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.