GeForce 9800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTX 280

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 280, which comes with core speeds of 602 MHz on the GPU, and 1107 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR3 RAM. It features 240 SPUs as well as 80 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 131 Watts (125%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 280 should in theory be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 84096 (146%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 should be much (more or less 43%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 14560 (43%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 280 is superior to the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9664 (101%)

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 data (in units of MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied 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 the texel rate, 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 maximum number of pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.