GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GTX 460

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 460, which has a clock speed of 675 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also uses a 192-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 336 SPUs, 56 Texture Address Units, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

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

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 460, in theory, should perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		86400 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (93%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 will be a little bit (about 13%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4200 (13%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 will be quite a bit (approximately 69%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB, and will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		16200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6600 (69%)

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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. 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 fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.