GeForce GT 420 vs GeForce GTS 450 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTS 450 1GB, which features a core clock speed of 783 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 902 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 192 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		106 Watts
	Difference: 56 Watts (112%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTS 450 1GB is 100% quicker than the GeForce GT 420 in general, because of its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		57728 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 28928 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 450 1GB is a lot (approximately 347%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		25056 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 19456 (347%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 450 1GB is superior to the GeForce GT 420, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		12528 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9728 (347%)

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 maximum amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, 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 texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

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