GeForce 8800 GTX vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare that 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 is made up of 288 Stream Processors, 48 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTX		155 Watts
	Difference: 5 Watts (3%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 460 SE, in theory, should be a lot faster than the GeForce 8800 GTX overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		86400 MB/sec
	Difference: 22400 (26%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTX will be just a bit (about 18%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 SE. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		36800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5600 (18%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE will be a lot (approximately 51%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8800 GTX, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		13800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7000 (51%)

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 (in units of MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, 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 is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.