GeForce 9800 GX2 vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which comes with a clock speed of 700 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 96 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
GeForce 9800 GX2		197 Watts
	Difference: 137 Watts (228%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 9800 GX2 should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 430 1GB overall. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		128000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 99200 (344%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 should be a lot (about 586%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce GT 430 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		76800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 65600 (586%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 should be much (approximately 586%) more effective at AA than the GeForce GT 430 1GB, and also will be capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		19200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16400 (586%)

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.

One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

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