GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which features core clock speeds of 675 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 336 SPUs along with 56 Texture Address Units and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		40 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 120 Watts (300%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is 1700% quicker than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 108800 (1700%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB is quite a bit (more or less 627%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32600 (627%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB will be quite a bit (approximately 731%) more effective at AA than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB, and will be able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		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 information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better 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 are processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

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