GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs Radeon R9 280X

Intro

Compare all of that to the Radeon R9 280X, which uses a 28 nm design. AMD has set the core speed at 850 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a speed of 1500 MHz on this particular card. It features 2048 SPUs as well as 128 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		40 Watts
Radeon R9 280X		250 Watts
	Difference: 210 Watts (525%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the Radeon R9 280X should theoretically be a lot better than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB overall. (explain)

Radeon R9 280X		288000 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 281600 (4400%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R9 280X should be a lot (about 1992%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

Radeon R9 280X		108800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 103600 (1992%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon R9 280X is quite a bit (about 946%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB, and able to handle higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

Radeon R9 280X		27200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		2600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 24600 (946%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many 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.