GeForce GT 340 vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which features a GPU core clock speed of 738 MHz, and 512 MB of GDDR3 memory set to run at 1100 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 128 Stream Processors, 64 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340		69 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
	Difference: 76 Watts (110%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB should in theory be a lot superior to the GeForce GT 340 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 340		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (29%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be quite a bit (about 168%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 340. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 29632 (168%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB is much (about 168%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce GT 340, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340		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: Bandwidth is the largest amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum 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 higher this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.