GeForce GTX 460 2GB vs GeForce GTX 660

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 660, which has clock speeds of 980 MHz on the GPU, and 1502 MHz on the 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 960 SPUs along with 80 TAUs and 24 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 660		140 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 20 Watts (14%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 660 should be a lot faster than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		144192 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
	Difference: 28992 (25%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 is a lot (more or less 107%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		78400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 40600 (107%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 will be a small bit (approximately 9%) more effective at AA than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, and able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		23520 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1920 (9%)

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 max amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better 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 calculated by multiplying the total number 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 in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number 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 filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of 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.