GeForce GTX 460 2GB vs GeForce GTX 870M

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 870M, which features GPU core speed of 941 MHz, and 3072 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 1000 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also is made up of 1344 Stream Processors, 112 TAUs, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 870M		110 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 50 Watts (45%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB should be a bit faster than the GeForce GTX 870M in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 870M		96000 MB/sec
	Difference: 19200 (20%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 870M is a lot (more or less 179%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 870M		105392 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 67592 (179%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 870M is the winner, but only just. (explain)

GeForce GTX 870M		22584 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 984 (5%)

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 (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock 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 processed in one second.

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