GeForce 8800 GTX vs GeForce 9800 GTX

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce 9800 GTX, which comes with a clock frequency of 675 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 1100 MHz. It also makes use of a 256-bit bus, and makes use of a 65 nm design. It features 128 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

F.E.A.R. 2

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

GeForce 9800 GTX		44 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTX		42 FPS
	Difference: 2 FPS (5%)

Fallout 3

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

GeForce 9800 GTX		37 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTX		21 FPS
	Difference: 16 FPS (76%)

Fallout 3

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

GeForce 9800 GTX		62 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTX		54 FPS
	Difference: 8 FPS (15%)

Left4Dead

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

GeForce 8800 GTX		43 FPS
GeForce 9800 GTX		41 FPS
	Difference: 2 FPS (5%)

Left4Dead

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

GeForce 8800 GTX		53 FPS
GeForce 9800 GTX		52 FPS
	Difference: 1 FPS (2%)

Tom Clancy's Endwar

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

GeForce 9800 GTX		18 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTX		17 FPS
	Difference: 1 FPS (6%)

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 8800 GTX		40 FPS
GeForce 9800 GTX		36 FPS
	Difference: 4 FPS (11%)

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GeForce 9800 GTX wins

(Based entirely on the benchmarks listed above)

When combining all game benchmark scores on this page together, the GeForce 9800 GTX wins overall, by 36 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 9800 GTX		327 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTX		291 FPS
	Difference: 36 FPS (12%)

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GTX		140 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTX		155 Watts
	Difference: 15 Watts (11%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce 8800 GTX should in theory be much better than the GeForce 9800 GTX in general. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		86400 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (23%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GTX is a small bit (approximately 17%) better at AF than the GeForce 8800 GTX. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GTX		43200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		36800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6400 (17%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 8800 GTX is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		13800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX		10800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3000 (28%)

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 max amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.