GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs GeForce GT 430 (OEM)

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 430 (OEM), which has core clock speeds of 700 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 2048 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 96 SPUs along with 16 Texture Address Units and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		40 Watts
GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		60 Watts
	Difference: 20 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GT 430 (OEM) should perform much faster than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		28800 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 22400 (350%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 (OEM) will be much (about 115%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		11200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6000 (115%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GT 430 (OEM) is a better choice, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		2800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		2600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 200 (8%)

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 a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better 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 are applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling 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 a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.