GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 970, which features a clock speed of 1050 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1750 MHz. It also features a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 28 nm design. It features 1664 SPUs, 104 TAUs, and 64 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		202 Watts
	Difference: 57 Watts (39%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 970 should theoretically be a lot better than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		111888 MB/sec
	Difference: 112112 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 is much (approximately 163%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		41472 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 67728 (163%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 970 is superior to the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		16128 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 51072 (317%)

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 max amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 processed per second. This figure is worked out 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 handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory per 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 outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of 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.