GeForce GT 420 vs GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, which features GPU clock speed of 576 MHz, and 896 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 999 MHz through a 448-bit bus. It also is made up of 216 SPUs, 72 Texture Address Units, and 28 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		202 Watts
	Difference: 152 Watts (304%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 should theoretically be much superior to the GeForce GT 420 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		111888 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 83088 (289%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is much (approximately 641%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		41472 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 35872 (641%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		16128 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 13328 (476%)

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 largest amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video 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 the video card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core 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.