GeForce GT 340 1GB vs GeForce GTS 250 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, which uses a 65/55 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 738 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM works at a frequency of 1100 MHz on this specific model. It features 128 SPUs as well as 64 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		69 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
	Difference: 76 Watts (110%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTS 250 1GB should perform a lot faster than the GeForce GT 340 1GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (29%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB will be a lot (approximately 168%) better at AF than the GeForce GT 340 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 29632 (168%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 250 1GB is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7408 (168%)

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 MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per 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 graphics 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 chip could possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs 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 fill rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.