GeForce GTX 275 vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

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

(No game benchmarks for this combination yet.)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
GeForce GTX 275		219 Watts
	Difference: 59 Watts (37%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 275 will be 10% faster than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB in general, because of its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 275		127008 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
	Difference: 11808 (10%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 275 should be much (about 34%) better at AF than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 275		50640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 12840 (34%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB is much (about 22%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 275, and capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 275		17724 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3876 (22%)

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 max amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range 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 worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.