GeForce 8600 GS (OEM) vs GeForce 9400 GT 256MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, which has a core clock speed of 550 MHz and a GDDR2 memory speed of 400 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit memory bus, and uses a 65 nm design. It is made up of 16 SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		47 Watts
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
	Difference: 3 Watts (6%)

Memory Bandwidth

Both cards have the exact same bandwidth, so in theory they should have identical performance. (explain)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GS (OEM) is quite a bit (about 96%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		8640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4240 (96%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GS (OEM) should be a lot (approximately 96%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2120 (96%)

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 maximum amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out 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 is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.