GeForce 8800 Ultra vs GeForce GTX 980M

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 980M, which has a GPU core clock speed of 1038 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1000 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 1536 SPUs, 96 TAUs, and 64 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 980M		100 Watts
GeForce 8800 Ultra		171 Watts
	Difference: 71 Watts (71%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 980M should in theory be much superior to the GeForce 8800 Ultra overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M		128000 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 Ultra		103680 MB/sec
	Difference: 24320 (23%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980M is a lot (approximately 154%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 Ultra. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M		99648 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 Ultra		39168 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 60480 (154%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 980M is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M		66432 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 Ultra		14688 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 51744 (352%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the 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 in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units 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 in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units 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 output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.