GeForce GTX 285 2GB 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 RAM running at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

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

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 285 2GB is 38% faster than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB overall, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

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

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 285 2GB is much (approximately 37%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB. (explain)

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

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is a better choice, though only just barely. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		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 largest amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total 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 applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.