GeForce GTX 280 vs GeForce GTX 460

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 675 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a speed of 900 MHz on this particular model. It features 336 SPUs along with 56 TAUs and 24 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 460		150 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 86 Watts (57%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 280 should be 64% faster than the GeForce GTX 460 overall, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 460		86400 MB/sec
	Difference: 55296 (64%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 should be a lot (about 27%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 460. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 10360 (27%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 will be a bit (approximately 19%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 460, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 460		16200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3064 (19%)

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 MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is calculated 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 graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.