GeForce 8800 GTX vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 650 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a frequency of 850 MHz on this specific model. It features 288 SPUs along with 48 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

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 should theoretically be much 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 is a bit (approximately 18%) more effective at AF 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 much (about 51%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 8800 GTX, and also will be capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (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 largest amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

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