GeForce GTX 260 vs GeForce GTX 960

Intro

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

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 960		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 260		182 Watts
	Difference: 62 Watts (52%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 960 should theoretically be a small bit better than the GeForce GTX 260 in general. (explain)

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

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 960 is much (about 96%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 260. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		72128 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 260		36864 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 35264 (96%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 960 will be much (approximately 124%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GTX 260, and will be able to handle higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		36064 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 260		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: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

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