GeForce GT 420 vs GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, which uses a 65 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 576 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 999 MHz on this particular model. It features 216 SPUs as well as 72 TAUs 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

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 should be much faster than 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 a lot (about 641%) better 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

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 should be quite a bit (approximately 476%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 420, and also will be able to handle higher resolutions more effectively. (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 max amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.