GeForce GTX 280 vs GeForce GTX 860M

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 860M, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 797 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM runs at a frequency of 1000 MHz on this model. It features 1152 SPUs along with 96 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 860M		45 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 191 Watts (424%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 280 is 121% quicker than the GeForce GTX 860M in general, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 860M		64000 MB/sec
	Difference: 77696 (121%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 860M is a lot (about 59%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 280. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		76512 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 28352 (59%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 280 is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 860M		12752 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6512 (51%)

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 data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip 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 Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.