GeForce GTX 260 vs GeForce GTX 560

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 560, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 810 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM works at a speed of 1001 MHz on this card. It features 336 SPUs along with 56 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 560		150 Watts
GeForce GTX 260		182 Watts
	Difference: 32 Watts (21%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 560, in theory, should perform just a bit faster than the GeForce GTX 260 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560		128128 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 260		111888 MB/sec
	Difference: 16240 (15%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 560 is a lot (more or less 23%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 260. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560		45360 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 260		36864 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8496 (23%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 560 is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560		25920 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 260		16128 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9792 (61%)

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 maximum amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.