GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB, which uses a 90 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 513 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM is set to run at a speed of 792 MHz on this particular card. It features 96 SPUs as well as 48 TAUs and 20 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		143 Watts
	Difference: 38 Watts (36%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB is 41% faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB in general, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		63360 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
	Difference: 18560 (41%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be quite a bit (approximately 36%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		24624 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8976 (36%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB is just a bit (more or less 7%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		10260 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 660 (7%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This is calculated 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 in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip 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 amount of colour ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.