GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 vs GeForce GTX 960

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 960, which has core speeds of 1127 MHz on the GPU, and 1750 MHz on the 2048 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 1024 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 960		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		202 Watts
	Difference: 82 Watts (68%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 960 should perform a small bit faster than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		112000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		111888 MB/sec
	Difference: 112 (0%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 960 should be a lot (about 74%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		72128 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		41472 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 30656 (74%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 960 is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		36064 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		16128 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19936 (124%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure 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 filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel 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 ability to get to the maximum fill rate.