GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

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

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm		171 Watts
	Difference: 26 Watts (18%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 970 should theoretically perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm		111888 MB/sec
	Difference: 112112 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 should be much (about 163%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm		41472 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 67728 (163%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 is a lot (more or less 317%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm, and will be able to handle higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm		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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, 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, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.