GeForce GTX 275 vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which features clock speeds of 675 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 336 SPUs along with 56 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Battlefield Bad Company 2

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 275		39 FPS
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		36 FPS
	Difference: 3 FPS (8%)

Left4Dead 2

Settings:	Very High
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		86 FPS
GeForce GTX 275		85 FPS
	Difference: 1 FPS (1%)

Mass Effect 2

Settings:	Maximum Quality
AA:	none
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 275		108 FPS
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		106 FPS
	Difference: 2 FPS (2%)

Supreme Commander 2

Settings:	High
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		77 FPS
GeForce GTX 275		38 FPS
	Difference: 39 FPS (103%)

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GeForce GTX 460 1GB wins

(Based entirely on the benchmarks listed above)

When combining all game benchmark scores on this page together, the GeForce GTX 460 1GB wins overall, by 35 FPS. Please note that we do not have the results of every benchmark ever done for these cards, so the results may differ wildly in different games.

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		305 FPS
GeForce GTX 275		270 FPS
	Difference: 35 FPS (13%)

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
GeForce GTX 275		219 Watts
	Difference: 59 Watts (37%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 275 will be 10% faster than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB in general, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 275		127008 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
	Difference: 11808 (10%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 275 is quite a bit (approximately 34%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 275		50640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 12840 (34%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB is a lot (more or less 22%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 275, and also should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 275		17724 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3876 (22%)

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 largest amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, 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 could possibly write to the 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 the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.