GeForce GTS 250 512MB vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which comes with a core clock frequency of 675 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also features a 256-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is made up of 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 15 Watts (10%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB should in theory perform a lot faster than the GeForce GTS 250 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 44800 (64%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be much (about 25%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 460 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 9432 (25%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB is quite a bit (approximately 83%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, and also capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9792 (83%)

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 transferred over the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units 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 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 ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.