GeForce 8800 Ultra vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which features core speeds of 650 MHz on the GPU, and 850 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 288 SPUs as well as 48 Texture Address Units and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
GeForce 8800 Ultra		171 Watts
	Difference: 21 Watts (14%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 460 SE should in theory be just a bit better than the GeForce 8800 Ultra in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 Ultra		103680 MB/sec
	Difference: 5120 (5%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 Ultra should be much (more or less 26%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 460 SE. (explain)

GeForce 8800 Ultra		39168 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 7968 (26%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE is quite a bit (approximately 42%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 8800 Ultra, and also should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 Ultra		14688 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6112 (42%)

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 largest amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.