GeForce 8800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTX 960M

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 960M, which has a core clock frequency of 1096 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1000 MHz. It also features a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It is comprised of 640 SPUs, 40 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 960M		65 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (62%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 960M is 11% faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960M		64000 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (11%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 960M is much (about 30%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960M		43840 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 10240 (30%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 960M is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960M		17536 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7936 (83%)

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 largest amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also 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 potential to get to the max fill rate.