GeForce GT 420 vs GeForce GTX 950M

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 950M, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 914 MHz. The DDR3 memory runs at a frequency of 1000 MHz on this specific model. It features 640 SPUs as well as 40 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce GTX 950M		55 Watts
	Difference: 5 Watts (10%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 950M should be a little bit faster than the GeForce GT 420 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950M		32000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (11%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 950M is a lot (about 553%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950M		36560 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 30960 (553%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 950M will be a lot (more or less 422%) better at FSAA than the GeForce GT 420, and capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950M		14624 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11824 (422%)

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 maximum amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.