GeForce GT 420 vs GeForce GTX 280

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 280, which features GPU clock speed of 602 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory set to run at 1107 MHz through a 512-bit bus. It also features 240 Stream Processors, 80 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 186 Watts (372%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 280 should be much faster than the GeForce GT 420 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 112896 (392%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 is quite a bit (approximately 760%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 42560 (760%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 should be quite a bit (approximately 588%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GT 420, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16464 (588%)

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 transported over the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.