GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 675 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM runs at a speed of 900 MHz on this model. It features 336 SPUs along with 56 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		40 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 1GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 120 Watts (300%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 1GB should be much faster than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 108800 (1700%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB should be much (about 627%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32600 (627%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB will be a lot (approximately 731%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		2600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19000 (731%)

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 max amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.