GeForce GTS 250 1GB vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which comes with a core clock frequency of 650 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 850 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is made up of 288 SPUs, 48 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
	Difference: 5 Watts (3%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 460 SE should theoretically perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce GTS 250 1GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 38400 (55%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB should be quite a bit (approximately 51%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 SE. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 16032 (51%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 SE is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This number is worked out 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 in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number 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 filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel 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.