GeForce GT 420 vs GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, which makes use of a 65 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 576 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a frequency of 999 MHz on this specific model. It features 216 SPUs as well as 72 TAUs and 28 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		202 Watts
	Difference: 152 Watts (304%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 should be a lot faster than the GeForce GT 420 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		111888 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 83088 (289%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is much (about 641%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		41472 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 35872 (641%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 will be quite a bit (more or less 476%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 420, and will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216		16128 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 13328 (476%)

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 largest amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. 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 better 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 processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the 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 number of pixels that the graphics card can 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 Render Output Units 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 rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.