GeForce GTX 280 vs GeForce GTX 850M

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 850M, which features GPU core speed of 876 MHz, and 2048 MB of DDR3 memory running at 1000 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 640 SPUs, 40 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 850M		40 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 196 Watts (490%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 280, in theory, should perform a lot faster than the GeForce GTX 850M in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 850M		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 109696 (343%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 is a lot (more or less 37%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 850M. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 850M		35040 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 13120 (37%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 280 is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 850M		14016 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5248 (37%)

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 maximum amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.