GeForce GTS 250 1GB vs GeForce GTX 470

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 470, which comes with GPU clock speed of 607 MHz, and 1280 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 837 MHz through a 320-bit bus. It also features 448 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 40 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
GeForce GTX 470		215 Watts
	Difference: 70 Watts (48%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 470 will be 90% quicker than the GeForce GTS 250 1GB overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 470		133920 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 63520 (90%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB should be quite a bit (about 39%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 470. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 470		33992 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 13240 (39%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 470 should be quite a bit (about 106%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, and also will be able to handle higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 470		24280 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 12472 (106%)

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 max amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past 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 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.