GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs GeForce GTS 450

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTS 450, which has a core clock speed of 783 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 902 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 192 SPUs, 32 TAUs, 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 GTS 450		106 Watts
	Difference: 66 Watts (165%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTS 450, in theory, should perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450		57728 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 51328 (802%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 450 is much (about 382%) better at AF than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450		25056 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 19856 (382%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 450 is quite a bit (about 382%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB, and also should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450		12528 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		2600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9928 (382%)

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 information (in units of MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount of 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.