GeForce 9800 GTX vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which comes with GPU core speed of 675 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 336 SPUs, 56 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GTX		140 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 20 Watts (14%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB should be much faster than the GeForce 9800 GTX in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 44800 (64%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GTX should be just a bit (about 14%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 460 2GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GTX		43200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5400 (14%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX		10800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 10800 (100%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster 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 processed per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units 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 quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.