GeForce GT 420 vs GeForce GTX 285 2GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 285 2GB, which features a core clock speed of 648 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 1242 MHz. It also features a 512-bit memory bus, and uses a 55 nm design. It is made up of 240 SPUs, 80 TAUs, 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 285 2GB		204 Watts
	Difference: 154 Watts (308%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 285 2GB should in theory be quite a bit better than the GeForce GT 420 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 2GB		158976 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 130176 (452%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 285 2GB will be a lot (more or less 826%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 2GB		51840 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 46240 (826%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 285 2GB should be a lot (approximately 641%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GT 420, and also will be able to handle higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 2GB		20736 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 17936 (641%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across 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 the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If 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 texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics 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 colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.