GeForce GT 1030 vs GeForce GTX 660

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 660, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 980 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a speed of 1502 MHz on this particular model. It features 960 SPUs along with 80 TAUs and 24 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 1030		30 Watts
GeForce GTX 660		140 Watts
	Difference: 110 Watts (367%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 660 should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 1030 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		144192 MB/sec
GeForce GT 1030		49152 MB/sec
	Difference: 95040 (193%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 is quite a bit (about 94%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 1030. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		78400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 1030		40480 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 37920 (94%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 will be just a bit (about 16%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce GT 1030, and also able to handle higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		23520 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 1030		20240 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3280 (16%)

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 data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high 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 amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core 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 fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.