GeForce GTX 460 2GB vs GeForce GTX 860M

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 860M, which comes with a clock frequency of 797 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1000 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It features 1152 SPUs, 96 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 860M		45 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 115 Watts (256%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB, in theory, should be a lot faster than the GeForce GTX 860M in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 860M		64000 MB/sec
	Difference: 51200 (80%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 860M should be a lot (more or less 102%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		76512 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 38712 (102%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 860M		12752 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 8848 (69%)

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 largest amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly write to the 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 clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.