GeForce GT 230 vs GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, which makes use of a 65 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 576 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM is set to run at a frequency of 999 MHz on this specific card. It features 216 SPUs as well as 72 TAUs and 28 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 230		65 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		202 Watts
	Difference: 137 Watts (211%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 should in theory be quite a bit superior to the GeForce GT 230 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		111888 MB/sec
GeForce GT 230		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 73488 (191%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 will be a lot (more or less 371%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GT 230. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		41472 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 230		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32672 (371%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is much (more or less 267%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 230, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		16128 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 230		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11728 (267%)

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 transported past the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 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 AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. 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 many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.