GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs GeForce GTX 285 2GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 285 2GB, which has a GPU core clock speed of 648 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 1242 MHz through a 512-bit bus. It also is made up of 240 Stream Processors, 80 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 285 2GB		204 Watts
	Difference: 84 Watts (70%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce GTX 285 2GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		196608 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 285 2GB		158976 MB/sec
	Difference: 37632 (24%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB will be much (approximately 109%) better at AF than the GeForce GTX 285 2GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		108432 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 285 2GB		51840 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 56592 (109%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		72288 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 285 2GB		20736 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 51552 (249%)

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 largest amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is calculated 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 handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.