GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 vs GeForce GTX 960

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 960, which features core clock speeds of 1127 MHz on the GPU, and 1750 MHz on the 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 1024 SPUs as well as 64 Texture Address Units and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 960		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		202 Watts
	Difference: 82 Watts (68%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 960 should be 0% quicker than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 in general, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		112000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		111888 MB/sec
	Difference: 112 (0%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 960 should be a lot (approximately 74%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		72128 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		41472 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 30656 (74%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 960 is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		36064 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		16128 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19936 (124%)

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 information (counted in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better 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 in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the 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 most pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.