GeForce GTS 450 1GB vs GeForce GTX 660

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 660, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 980 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a speed of 1502 MHz on this particular model. It features 960 SPUs as well as 80 Texture Address Units and 24 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		106 Watts
GeForce GTX 660		140 Watts
	Difference: 34 Watts (32%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 660 is 150% faster than the GeForce GTS 450 1GB in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		144192 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		57728 MB/sec
	Difference: 86464 (150%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 is a lot (approximately 213%) better at AF than the GeForce GTS 450 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		78400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		25056 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 53344 (213%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 660 is superior to the GeForce GTS 450 1GB, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		23520 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		12528 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 10992 (88%)

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: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses 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 higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output 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 get to the max fill rate.