GeForce 8800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which has a core clock speed of 675 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also features a 256-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 336 SPUs, 56 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 55 Watts (52%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 57600 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB will be just a bit (approximately 13%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4200 (13%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		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 transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.