GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which has a GPU core clock speed of 675 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 55 Watts (52%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 460 1GB should be much faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
	Difference: 70400 (157%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB will be a little bit (more or less 13%) better at AF than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4200 (13%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 1GB is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 12000 (125%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics 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 amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.