GeForce GTX 1050 3GB vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which comes with GPU clock speed of 675 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		75 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 85 Watts (113%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB should be a lot faster than the GeForce GTX 1050 3GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		86016 MB/sec
	Difference: 29184 (34%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1050 3GB should be much (about 77%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		66816 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 29016 (77%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 1050 3GB is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		33408 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11808 (55%)

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 transferred past the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, it 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.