GeForce GTX 1050 3GB vs GeForce GTX 950

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 950, which has a GPU core clock speed of 1024 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 1652 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 768 SPUs, 48 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		75 Watts
GeForce GTX 950		90 Watts
	Difference: 15 Watts (20%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 950 will be 23% faster than the GeForce GTX 1050 3GB overall, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950		105728 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		86016 MB/sec
	Difference: 19712 (23%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1050 3GB is quite a bit (about 36%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 950. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		66816 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 950		49152 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 17664 (36%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 1050 3GB is superior to the GeForce GTX 950, but only just. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1050 3GB		33408 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 950		32768 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 640 (2%)

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 (in units of MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.