GeForce GTS 450 1GB vs GeForce GTX 280

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 280, which uses a 65 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 602 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a frequency of 1107 MHz on this model. It features 240 SPUs along with 80 Texture Address Units and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		106 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 130 Watts (123%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 280 should perform a lot faster than the GeForce GTS 450 1GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		57728 MB/sec
	Difference: 83968 (145%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 should be quite a bit (approximately 92%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTS 450 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		25056 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 23104 (92%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 will be quite a bit (about 54%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTS 450 1GB, and should be able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		12528 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6736 (54%)

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 data (counted in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

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