GeForce 9800 GTX+ vs GeForce GTX 280

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 280, which features a core clock frequency of 602 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 1107 MHz. It also makes use of a 512-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 65 nm design. It is made up of 240 SPUs, 80 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GTX+		145 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 91 Watts (63%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 280 should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce 9800 GTX+ overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX+		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 71296 (101%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 should be just a bit (more or less 2%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9800 GTX+. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX+		47232 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 928 (2%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 280 is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX+		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7456 (63%)

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 megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are processed 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 video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.