GeForce 8800 GT 1GB vs GeForce GTS 250 1GB

Intro

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

F.E.A.R. 2

Settings:	Maximum Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Unknown (Source)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		48 FPS
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		38 FPS
	Difference: 10 FPS (26%)

Fallout 3

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		38 FPS
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		34 FPS
	Difference: 4 FPS (12%)

Fallout 3

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1680x1050
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		66 FPS
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		55 FPS
	Difference: 11 FPS (20%)

Far Cry 2

Settings:	Very High Qualty
AA:	none
AF:	none
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Intel Core i7-920,3 x 2 GB Ram,Windows Vista Ultimate 32 Bit SP1 (Source)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		50 FPS
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		41 FPS
	Difference: 9 FPS (22%)

Left4Dead

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		44 FPS
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		37 FPS
	Difference: 7 FPS (19%)

Left4Dead

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		56 FPS
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		47 FPS
	Difference: 9 FPS (19%)

Tom Clancy's Endwar

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		19 FPS
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		16 FPS
	Difference: 3 FPS (19%)

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1680x1050
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		42 FPS
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		33 FPS
	Difference: 9 FPS (27%)

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GeForce GTS 250 1GB wins

(Based entirely on the benchmarks listed above)

When combining all game benchmark scores on this page together, the GeForce GTS 250 1GB wins overall, by 62 FPS. Please note that we do not have the results of every benchmark ever done for these cards, so the results may differ wildly in different games.

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		363 FPS
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		301 FPS
	Difference: 62 FPS (21%)

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		105 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB should theoretically perform much faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 1GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (22%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB will be quite a bit (more or less 41%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8800 GT 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 13632 (41%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 250 1GB is superior to the GeForce 8800 GT 1GB, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		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 largest amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses 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 can be processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.