GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which comes with core speeds of 650 MHz on the GPU, and 850 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 288 SPUs along with 48 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (43%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 SE will be 143% faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
	Difference: 64000 (143%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB will be a bit (more or less 8%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 460 SE. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2400 (8%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE is much (approximately 117%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB, and able to handle higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11200 (117%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.