GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs GeForce 8800 GT 512MB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB, which uses a 65 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 600 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 900 MHz on this model. It features 112 SPUs along with 56 Texture Address Units and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		40 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 65 Watts (163%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB should in theory be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 51200 (800%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 512MB should be a lot (about 546%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 28400 (546%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 512MB should be much (about 269%) better at AA than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		2600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7000 (269%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock 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 processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends 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.