GeForce GT 430 vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which has a clock speed of 738 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 1100 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit bus, and makes use of a 65/55 nm design. It is comprised of 128 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430		60 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
	Difference: 85 Watts (142%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB is 144% quicker than the GeForce GT 430 overall, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (144%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB will be a lot (more or less 322%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 430. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 36032 (322%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 250 512MB is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9008 (322%)

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 max amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR 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, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount 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 many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.