GeForce GT 420 vs GeForce GTS 150

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTS 150, which has GPU core speed of 740 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory running at 500 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 128 Stream Processors, 64 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce GTS 150		141 Watts
	Difference: 91 Watts (182%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTS 150 is 11% faster than the GeForce GT 420 in general, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		32000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (11%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 150 will be quite a bit (about 746%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		47360 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 41760 (746%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 150 should be a lot (about 323%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 420, and also will be able to handle higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		11840 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9040 (323%)

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 data (in units of MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.