GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 650 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM runs at a speed of 850 MHz on this specific card. It features 288 SPUs along with 48 Texture Address Units and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
	Difference: 100 Watts (200%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 460 SE should in theory be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 96000 (750%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE should be a lot (approximately 609%) better at AF than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 26800 (609%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE should be a lot (more or less 845%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, and also should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 18600 (845%)

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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics 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 that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.