GeForce GTS 250 1GB vs GeForce GTX 980

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 980, which features a core clock frequency of 1126 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1750 MHz. It also features a 256-bit bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It features 2048 SPUs, 128 TAUs, and 64 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
GeForce GTX 980		165 Watts
	Difference: 20 Watts (14%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 980 will be 218% quicker than the GeForce GTS 250 1GB in general, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		224000 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 153600 (218%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980 should be quite a bit (more or less 205%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTS 250 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		144128 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 96896 (205%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 980 is superior to the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		72064 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 60256 (510%)

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 information (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's 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 can be applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video 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 that the graphics chip can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.