GeForce 8800 GS vs GeForce 8800 GT 256MB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB, which makes use of a 65 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 600 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a frequency of 700 MHz on this model. It features 112 SPUs along with 56 Texture Address Units and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Both cards have the same power consumption.

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB will be 17% quicker than the GeForce 8800 GS overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GS		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (17%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be a lot (about 27%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 GS. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GS		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 7200 (27%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be a lot (about 45%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce 8800 GS, and will be able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GS		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3000 (45%)

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 largest amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 processed in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many 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.