GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 340

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 340, which features GPU clock speed of 550 MHz, and 512 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 850 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 96 SPUs, 32 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340		69 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 36 Watts (52%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 340 should in theory perform much faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 340		54400 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
	Difference: 9600 (21%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is much (more or less 91%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 340. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 16000 (91%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is a lot (more or less 118%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 340, and also should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5200 (118%)

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 MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount 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 texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.