GeForce GTS 250 512MB vs GeForce GTX 480

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 480, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 700 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a frequency of 924 MHz on this particular model. It features 480 SPUs along with 60 Texture Address Units and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
GeForce GTX 480		250 Watts
	Difference: 105 Watts (72%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 480 should theoretically be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GTS 250 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		177408 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 107008 (152%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB is a bit (approximately 12%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 480. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 480		42000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5232 (12%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 480 is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		33600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 21792 (185%)

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 maximum amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video 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 number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.