GeForce GTX 260 vs GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, which comes with a clock speed of 576 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 999 MHz. It also uses a 448-bit bus, and uses a 65 nm design. It is made up of 216 SPUs, 72 Texture Address Units, and 28 ROPs.

F.E.A.R. 2

Settings:	Maximum Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Unknown (Source)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		63 FPS
GeForce GTX 260		60 FPS
	Difference: 3 FPS (5%)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 260		182 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		202 Watts
	Difference: 20 Watts (11%)

Memory Bandwidth

Both cards have exactly the same bandwidth, so theoretically they should perform the same. (explain)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 should be a little bit (about 13%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 260. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		41472 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 260		36864 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4608 (13%)

Pixel Rate

Both cards have the exact same pixel rate, so theoretically they should be equally good at at AA, and be able to handle the same screen resolutions. (explain)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. 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 - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.