GeForce 8800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTX 660

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 660, which has a core clock speed of 980 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1502 MHz. It also makes use of a 192-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It is made up of 960 SPUs, 80 TAUs, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
GeForce GTX 660		140 Watts
	Difference: 35 Watts (33%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 660 should theoretically be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		144192 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 86592 (150%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 will be quite a bit (approximately 133%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		78400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 44800 (133%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 660 is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		23520 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 13920 (145%)

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 max amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.