GeForce GT 310 vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which has GPU core speed of 675 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 310		31 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 129 Watts (416%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB will be 620% faster than the GeForce GT 310 in general, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce GT 310		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 99200 (620%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB is a lot (about 702%) better at AF than the GeForce GT 310. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 310		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 33088 (702%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is superior to the GeForce GT 310, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 310		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19244 (817%)

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 largest amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at 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 video card could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.