GeForce GTS 250 512MB vs GeForce GTX 960M

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 960M, which has a clock speed of 1096 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1000 MHz. It also makes use of a 128-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It features 640 SPUs, 40 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 960M		65 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
	Difference: 80 Watts (123%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB will be 10% faster than the GeForce GTX 960M in general, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 960M		64000 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (10%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB will be a bit (more or less 8%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 960M. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 960M		43840 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3392 (8%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 960M should be quite a bit (approximately 49%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, and capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960M		17536 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5728 (49%)

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 MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better 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 amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.