GeForce 8800 Ultra vs GeForce GTX 460

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 460, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 675 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a speed of 900 MHz on this particular model. It features 336 SPUs along with 56 TAUs and 24 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

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

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 8800 Ultra should be a small bit faster than the GeForce GTX 460 in general. (explain)

GeForce 8800 Ultra		103680 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 460		86400 MB/sec
	Difference: 17280 (20%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 Ultra is a small bit (approximately 4%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 460. (explain)

GeForce 8800 Ultra		39168 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 1368 (4%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 is the winner, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		16200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 Ultra		14688 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1512 (10%)

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 maximum amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics 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 number of pixels the video card can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. 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 potential to reach the maximum fill rate.