GeForce 8800 GTX vs GeForce 9400 GT 256MB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, which has a core clock frequency of 550 MHz and a GDDR2 memory speed of 400 MHz. It also makes use of a 128-bit memory bus, and uses a 65 nm design. It is comprised of 16 SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTX		155 Watts
	Difference: 105 Watts (210%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8800 GTX will be 575% faster than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB in general, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		86400 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 73600 (575%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTX will be quite a bit (more or less 736%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		36800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32400 (736%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTX should be a lot (more or less 527%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, and will be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		13800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11600 (527%)

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 (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of 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.