GeForce GT 420 vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which has GPU clock speed of 738 MHz, and 512 MB of GDDR3 memory running at 1100 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 128 SPUs, 64 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
	Difference: 95 Watts (190%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB should theoretically be quite a bit superior to the GeForce GT 420 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (144%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB is much (approximately 743%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 41632 (743%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 250 512MB is superior to the GeForce GT 420, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9008 (322%)

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 max amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, the result should 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 anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the 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 graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.