GeForce GTX 1050 3GB vs GeForce GTX 980M

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 980M, which has core speeds of 1038 MHz on the GPU, and 1000 MHz on the 4096 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 1536 SPUs as well as 96 TAUs and 64 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		75 Watts
GeForce GTX 980M		100 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (33%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 980M should theoretically be quite a bit superior to the GeForce GTX 1050 3GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M		128000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		86016 MB/sec
	Difference: 41984 (49%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980M is much (approximately 49%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 1050 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M		99648 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		66816 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32832 (49%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 980M is superior to the GeForce GTX 1050 3GB, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M		66432 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		33408 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 33024 (99%)

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: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka 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 - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.