GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs Geforce GTX 680

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Geforce GTX 680, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 1006 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a speed of 1502 MHz on this particular model. It features 1536 SPUs as well as 128 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
Geforce GTX 680		195 Watts
	Difference: 90 Watts (86%)

Memory Bandwidth

The Geforce GTX 680, in theory, should be much faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB overall. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		192256 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
	Difference: 147456 (329%)

Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 680 will be quite a bit (more or less 283%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		128768 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 95168 (283%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the Geforce GTX 680 is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		32192 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 22592 (235%)

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 max amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 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 anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

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