GeForce 9800 GX2 vs GeForce GTX 295

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 295, which features core clock speeds of 576 MHz on the GPU, and 999 MHz on the 896 MB of GDDR3 RAM. It features 240 SPUs as well as 80 TAUs and 28 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GX2		197 Watts
GeForce GTX 295		289 Watts
	Difference: 92 Watts (47%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 295 will be 75% faster than the GeForce 9800 GX2 in general, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 295		223776 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GX2		128000 MB/sec
	Difference: 95776 (75%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 295 will be a small bit (more or less 20%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9800 GX2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 295		92160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9800 GX2		76800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 15360 (20%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 295 should be much (more or less 68%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 9800 GX2, and should be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 295		32256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GX2		19200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 13056 (68%)

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.

One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. 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 maximum fill rate.