GeForce 9800 GTX vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which features a GPU core clock speed of 650 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 850 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 288 SPUs, 48 Texture Address Units, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GTX		140 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
	Difference: 10 Watts (7%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 460 SE should in theory be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 9800 GTX overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 38400 (55%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GTX is quite a bit (more or less 38%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 SE. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GTX		43200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 12000 (38%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE will be quite a bit (approximately 93%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9800 GTX, and should be able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX		10800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 10000 (93%)

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 information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.