GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs GeForce GTX 980M

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 980M, which has GPU core speed of 1038 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 1000 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 1536 Stream Processors, 96 TAUs, and 64 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		40 Watts
GeForce GTX 980M		100 Watts
	Difference: 60 Watts (150%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 980M should perform much faster than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M		128000 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 121600 (1900%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980M will be a lot (more or less 1816%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M		99648 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 94448 (1816%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980M will be a lot (about 2455%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB, and also should be able to handle higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M		66432 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		2600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 63832 (2455%)

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: Bandwidth is the largest amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.