GeForce GTS 250 1GB vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which has GPU core speed of 675 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 336 Stream Processors, 56 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 15 Watts (10%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 460 1GB should in theory be a lot better than the GeForce GTS 250 1GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 44800 (64%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB is much (approximately 25%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 9432 (25%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB will be quite a bit (approximately 83%) better at FSAA than the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, and will be capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9792 (83%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 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, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.