GeForce GTX 280 vs GeForce GTX 950

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 950, which features GPU core speed of 1024 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1652 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 768 Stream Processors, 48 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 950		90 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 146 Watts (162%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 280, in theory, should perform a lot faster than the GeForce GTX 950 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 950		105728 MB/sec
	Difference: 35968 (34%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 950 should be a little bit (about 2%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 280. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950		49152 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 992 (2%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 950 is superior to the GeForce GTX 280, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950		32768 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 13504 (70%)

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 (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called 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 - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.