GeForce GTS 450 1GB vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 675 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM works at a frequency of 900 MHz on this model. It features 336 SPUs along with 56 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		106 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 54 Watts (51%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 460 1GB should theoretically be much superior to the GeForce GTS 450 1GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		57728 MB/sec
	Difference: 57472 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB should be quite a bit (more or less 51%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTS 450 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		25056 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 12744 (51%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 1GB is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		12528 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9072 (72%)

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 megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once 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, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.