GeForce GTX 285 1GB vs GeForce GTX 470

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 470, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 607 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a frequency of 837 MHz on this particular card. It features 448 SPUs along with 56 TAUs and 40 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 285 1GB		204 Watts
GeForce GTX 470		215 Watts
	Difference: 11 Watts (5%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 285 1GB should in theory be a little bit superior to the GeForce GTX 470 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 1GB		158976 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 470		133920 MB/sec
	Difference: 25056 (19%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 285 1GB is much (about 53%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 470. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 1GB		51840 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 470		33992 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 17848 (53%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 470 is superior to the GeForce GTX 285 1GB, though only just barely. (explain)

GeForce GTX 470		24280 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 285 1GB		20736 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3544 (17%)

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 MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number 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 is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.