GeForce GTS 450 vs GeForce GTX 260

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 260, which comes with GPU core speed of 576 MHz, and 896 MB of GDDR3 memory running at 999 MHz through a 448-bit bus. It also features 192 Stream Processors, 64 TAUs, and 28 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 450		106 Watts
GeForce GTX 260		182 Watts
	Difference: 76 Watts (72%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 260 should theoretically be quite a bit better than the GeForce GTS 450 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260		111888 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 450		57728 MB/sec
	Difference: 54160 (94%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 is a lot (approximately 47%) better at AF than the GeForce GTS 450. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260		36864 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTS 450		25056 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 11808 (47%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 is much (more or less 29%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce GTS 450, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260		16128 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 450		12528 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3600 (29%)

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 maximum amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.