GeForce 8800 GS vs GeForce GTS 150

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTS 150, which has core clock speeds of 740 MHz on the GPU, and 500 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR3 RAM. It features 128 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GS		105 Watts
GeForce GTS 150		141 Watts
	Difference: 36 Watts (34%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8800 GS is 20% quicker than the GeForce GTS 150 in general, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GS		38400 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 150		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (20%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 150 should be a lot (approximately 79%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 GS. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		47360 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GS		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 20960 (79%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 150 is superior to the GeForce 8800 GS, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		11840 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GS		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5240 (79%)

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 maximum amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out 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 filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.