GeForce GTS 250 512MB vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which comes with core speeds of 650 MHz on the GPU, and 850 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 288 SPUs as well as 48 Texture Address Units and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
	Difference: 5 Watts (3%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 460 SE should in theory be a lot superior to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 38400 (55%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be quite a bit (about 51%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 460 SE. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 16032 (51%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE is a lot (approximately 76%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, and will be able to handle higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 8992 (76%)

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 (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video 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 most pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the 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 - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel 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.