GeForce GTX 1050 vs GeForce GTX 280

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 280, which features a core clock frequency of 602 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 1107 MHz. It also uses a 512-bit memory bus, and uses a 65 nm design. It features 240 SPUs, 80 Texture Address Units, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1050		75 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 161 Watts (215%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 280, in theory, should be a lot faster than the GeForce GTX 1050 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 1050		114688 MB/sec
	Difference: 27008 (24%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1050 should be a small bit (approximately 12%) better at AF than the GeForce GTX 280. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1050		54160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6000 (12%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1050 is a lot (about 125%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 280, and also should be able to handle higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1050		43328 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 24064 (125%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total 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 texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

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