GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 675 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a frequency of 900 MHz on this particular model. It features 336 SPUs as well as 56 Texture Address Units and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		40 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 120 Watts (300%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 460 1GB should in theory be much superior to the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 108800 (1700%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB will be much (about 627%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32600 (627%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 1GB is superior to the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		2600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19000 (731%)

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 transported over the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.