GeForce 9800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTS 250 1GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, which features a core clock frequency of 738 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 1100 MHz. It also makes use of a 256-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 65/55 nm design. It features 128 SPUs, 64 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTS 250 1GB is 22% quicker than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (22%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB should be quite a bit (about 41%) better at AF than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 13632 (41%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB is much (more or less 23%) better at AA than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2208 (23%)

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 data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 can be processed per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling 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 the video card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.