GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which features a GPU core clock speed of 675 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

(No game benchmarks for this combination yet.)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		202 Watts
	Difference: 42 Watts (26%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 460 1GB should be 3% faster than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 overall, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		111888 MB/sec
	Difference: 3312 (3%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is just a bit (approximately 10%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		41472 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3672 (10%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB will be a lot (more or less 34%) more effective at AA than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		16128 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5472 (34%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.