GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB vs GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce 8800 GTS (G92), which features GPU core speed of 650 MHz, and 512 MB of GDDR3 memory set to run at 970 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 128 Stream Processors, 64 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

F.E.A.R. 2

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

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		42 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		28 FPS
	Difference: 14 FPS (50%)

Fallout 3

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

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		59 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		21 FPS
	Difference: 38 FPS (181%)

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 8800 GTS (G92)		45 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		23 FPS
	Difference: 22 FPS (96%)

Left4Dead

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

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		51 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		35 FPS
	Difference: 16 FPS (46%)

Tom Clancy's Endwar

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

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		17 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		8 FPS
	Difference: 9 FPS (113%)

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GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) wins

(Based entirely on the benchmarks listed above)

When combining all game benchmark scores on this page together, the GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) wins overall, by 115 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 8800 GTS (G92)		265 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		150 FPS
	Difference: 115 FPS (77%)

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		135 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		143 Watts
	Difference: 8 Watts (6%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB should perform a little bit faster than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		63360 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		62080 MB/sec
	Difference: 1280 (2%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) should be quite a bit (more or less 69%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		41600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		24624 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 16976 (69%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) is a better choice, not by a very large margin though. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		10260 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 140 (1%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 applied per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at 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 that the graphics chip could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.