GeForce 9800 GX2 vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 970, which comes with a GPU core clock speed of 1050 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 1750 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 1664 Stream Processors, 104 TAUs, and 64 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
GeForce 9800 GX2		197 Watts
	Difference: 52 Watts (36%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 970 should be 75% faster than the GeForce 9800 GX2 overall, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GX2		128000 MB/sec
	Difference: 96000 (75%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 is a lot (about 42%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9800 GX2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9800 GX2		76800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32400 (42%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 will be quite a bit (more or less 250%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 9800 GX2, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GX2		19200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 48000 (250%)

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.

One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, 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 number of pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.