GeForce 8800 GTX vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 675 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM runs at a frequency of 900 MHz on this particular model. It features 336 SPUs as well as 56 Texture Address Units and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GTX		155 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 5 Watts (3%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB should in theory perform much faster than the GeForce 8800 GTX overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		86400 MB/sec
	Difference: 28800 (33%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB should be a little bit (more or less 3%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8800 GTX. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		36800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 1000 (3%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is superior to the GeForce 8800 GTX, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		13800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7800 (57%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.