GeForce GT 310 vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which has a core clock speed of 650 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 850 MHz. It also makes use of a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 288 SPUs, 48 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 310		31 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
	Difference: 119 Watts (384%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 SE is 580% faster than the GeForce GT 310 overall, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 310		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 92800 (580%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE is much (about 562%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 310. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 310		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 26488 (562%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE will be quite a bit (approximately 783%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 310, and will be able to handle higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 310		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 18444 (783%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

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