GeForce GT 315 vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which features core speeds of 675 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 2048 MB of GDDR5 RAM. 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 GT 315		52 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 108 Watts (208%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is 356% quicker than the GeForce GT 315 overall, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce GT 315		25280 MB/sec
	Difference: 89920 (356%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB should be a lot (more or less 278%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 315. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 315		10000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 27800 (278%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is superior to the GeForce GT 315, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 315		5000 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16600 (332%)

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 transferred over the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

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