GeForce 8500 GT vs GeForce GTS 250 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, which comes with GPU clock speed of 738 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 RAM running at 1100 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 128 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8500 GT		45 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
	Difference: 100 Watts (222%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTS 250 1GB should in theory be a lot better than the GeForce 8500 GT overall. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 57600 (450%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB should be a lot (approximately 1212%) better at AF than the GeForce 8500 GT. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		3600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 43632 (1212%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB should be quite a bit (more or less 556%) better at AA than the GeForce 8500 GT, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		1800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 10008 (556%)

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 largest amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends 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.