GeForce GTX 285 2GB vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 675 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a speed of 900 MHz on this specific model. It features 336 SPUs as well as 56 Texture Address Units and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
GeForce GTX 285 2GB		204 Watts
	Difference: 44 Watts (28%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 285 2GB should be 38% faster than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB overall, because of its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 2GB		158976 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
	Difference: 43776 (38%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 285 2GB will be a lot (approximately 37%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 2GB		51840 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 14040 (37%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 1GB is superior to the GeForce GTX 285 2GB, but only just. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 285 2GB		20736 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 864 (4%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core 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 one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core 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 fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.