GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce GTX 460

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460, which has clock speeds of 675 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 768 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 336 SPUs as well as 56 Texture Address Units and 24 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		150 Watts
	Difference: 100 Watts (200%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 should be 575% faster than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB in general, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		86400 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 73600 (575%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 will be a lot (about 759%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 33400 (759%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 will be quite a bit (approximately 636%) better at AA than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, and will be able to handle higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		16200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 14000 (636%)

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 transported over the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This number is calculated 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 in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.