GeForce GTX 260 vs GeForce GTX 295

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 295, which comes with GPU core speed of 576 MHz, and 896 MB of GDDR3 memory running at 999 MHz through a 448-bit bus. It also is made up of 240 Stream Processors, 80 Texture Address Units, and 28 Raster Operation Units.

Battlefield Bad Company 2

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 295		60 FPS
GeForce GTX 260		31 FPS
	Difference: 29 FPS (94%)

Mass Effect 2

Settings:	Maximum Quality
AA:	none
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 295		185 FPS
GeForce GTX 260		91 FPS
	Difference: 94 FPS (103%)

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GeForce GTX 295 wins

(Based entirely on the benchmarks listed above)

When combining all game benchmark scores on this page together, the GeForce GTX 295 wins overall, by 123 FPS. Please note that we do not have the results of every benchmark ever done for these cards, so the results may differ wildly in different games.

GeForce GTX 295		245 FPS
GeForce GTX 260		122 FPS
	Difference: 123 FPS (101%)

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 260		182 Watts
GeForce GTX 295		289 Watts
	Difference: 107 Watts (59%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 295 should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GTX 260 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 295		223776 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 260		111888 MB/sec
	Difference: 111888 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 295 should be quite a bit (about 150%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 260. (explain)

GeForce GTX 295		92160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 260		36864 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 55296 (150%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 295 should be much (approximately 100%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GTX 260, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 295		32256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 260		16128 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16128 (100%)

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.

One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the largest amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video 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 number of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines 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 fill 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 ability to reach the max fill rate.