GeForce GTX 280 vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which comes with a GPU core clock speed of 675 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		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 2GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
	Difference: 26496 (23%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 is quite a bit (approximately 27%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 10360 (27%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is a better choice, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		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 (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the 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 that the graphics chip could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill 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 maximum fill rate.