GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs GeForce GTX 580

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 580, which has core clock speeds of 772 MHz on the GPU, and 1002 MHz on the 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 512 SPUs as well as 64 Texture Address Units and 48 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		40 Watts
GeForce GTX 580		244 Watts
	Difference: 204 Watts (510%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 580 will be 2906% faster than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB in general, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		192384 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 185984 (2906%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 should be quite a bit (more or less 850%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 44208 (850%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		2600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 34456 (1325%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units 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 processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines 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 rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.