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GeForce GTS 250 512MB vs GeForce GTX 480

Intro

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB comes with a GPU core clock speed of 738 MHz, and the 512 MB of GDDR3 memory is set to run at 1100 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 128 Stream Processors, 64 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 480, which has GPU clock speed of 700 MHz, and 1536 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 924 MHz through a 384-bit bus. It also is comprised of 480 SPUs, 60 TAUs, 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

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 480 should theoretically be much superior to 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 should be a bit (about 12%) more effective at texture 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

The GeForce GTX 480 will be much (approximately 185%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, and should be capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (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

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GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Amazon.com

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GeForce GTX 480

Amazon.com

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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

Display Specifications

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Model GeForce GTS 250 512MB GeForce GTX 480
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year March 3, 2009 March 2010
Code Name G92a/b GF100
Memory 512 MB 1536 MB
Core Speed 738 MHz 700 MHz
Memory Speed 2200 MHz 3696 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 145 watts 250 watts
Bandwidth 70400 MB/sec 177408 MB/sec
Texel Rate 47232 Mtexels/sec 42000 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 11808 Mpixels/sec 33600 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 128 480
Texture Mapping Units 64 60
Render Output Units 16 48
Bus Type GDDR3 GDDR5
Bus Width 256-bit 384-bit
Fab Process 65/55 nm 40 nm
Transistors 754 million 3000 million
Bus PCIe x16 2.0 PCIe x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 11
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.1 OpenGL 4.1

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it 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 number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

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GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GTX 480

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

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