GeForce GTX 1060 vs GeForce GTX 280

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 280, which features GPU clock speed of 602 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 1107 MHz through a 512-bit bus. It also is comprised of 240 SPUs, 80 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1060		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 116 Watts (97%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 1060 should be 39% faster than the GeForce GTX 280 overall, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060		196608 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
	Difference: 54912 (39%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 should be quite a bit (about 150%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 280. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060		120480 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 72320 (150%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 1060 is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060		72288 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 53024 (275%)

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 information (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock 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 processed per 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. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. 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 rate also depends on lots of 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.