GeForce 8500 GT vs GeForce GT 320

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 320, which comes with GPU clock speed of 540 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 790 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 72 Stream Processors, 24 Texture Address Units, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 320		43 Watts
GeForce 8500 GT		45 Watts
	Difference: 2 Watts (5%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GT 320 should perform a lot faster than the GeForce 8500 GT overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		25280 MB/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 12480 (98%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 320 should be much (more or less 260%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8500 GT. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		12960 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		3600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 9360 (260%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 320 will be a lot (about 140%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 8500 GT, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		1800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2520 (140%)

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure 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 output rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.