GeForce GTX 280 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 clocked the core speed at 675 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a frequency of 900 MHz on this specific model. It features 336 SPUs as well as 56 Texture Address Units and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 76 Watts (48%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 280 should in theory perform a lot faster than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
	Difference: 26496 (23%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 will be much (approximately 27%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 10360 (27%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB will be just a bit (about 12%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GTX 280, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2336 (12%)

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 megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses 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 higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at 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 can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.