GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB vs GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 8800 GTS (G92), which makes use of a 65 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 650 MHz. The GDDR3 memory works at a speed of 970 MHz on this particular model. It features 128 SPUs as well as 64 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

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) 640MB		30 FPS
	Difference: 12 FPS (40%)

Fallout 3

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

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		36 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		14 FPS
	Difference: 22 FPS (157%)

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) 640MB		38 FPS
	Difference: 21 FPS (55%)

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) 640MB		31 FPS
	Difference: 14 FPS (45%)

Left4Dead

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

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		40 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		32 FPS
	Difference: 8 FPS (25%)

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) 640MB		38 FPS
	Difference: 13 FPS (34%)

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) 640MB		14 FPS
	Difference: 3 FPS (21%)

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 GTS (G92)		35 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		30 FPS
	Difference: 5 FPS (17%)

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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 119 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)		384 FPS
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		265 FPS
	Difference: 119 FPS (45%)

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		135 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		143 Watts
	Difference: 8 Watts (6%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB should be just a bit faster than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) in general. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		63360 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		62080 MB/sec
	Difference: 1280 (2%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) should be much (more or less 69%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		41600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		24624 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 16976 (69%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) is the winner, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G92)		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		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: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out 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 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 applied 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 card will be at 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 that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.