GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 420

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 420, which comes with a GPU core clock speed of 700 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR3 memory running at 900 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 48 Stream Processors, 8 TAUs, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 55 Watts (110%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be a lot faster than the GeForce GT 420 overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (56%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is quite a bit (more or less 500%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 28000 (500%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6800 (243%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once 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 high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics 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 maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.