GeForce 9800 GX2 vs GeForce GT 340 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 340 1GB, which comes with core speeds of 550 MHz on the GPU, and 850 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 96 SPUs as well as 32 TAUs and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		69 Watts
GeForce 9800 GX2		197 Watts
	Difference: 128 Watts (186%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9800 GX2 should theoretically be a lot faster than the GeForce GT 340 1GB in general. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		128000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 73600 (135%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 is a lot (about 336%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GT 340 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		76800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 59200 (336%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 will be much (more or less 336%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce GT 340 1GB, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		19200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 14800 (336%)

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 max amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transported 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 the card has DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as 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 potential to reach the max fill rate.