GeForce GT 430 1GB vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which uses a 65/55 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 738 MHz. The GDDR3 memory works at a frequency of 1100 MHz on this particular model. It features 128 SPUs as well as 64 Texture Address Units and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
	Difference: 85 Watts (142%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB, in theory, should perform much faster than the GeForce GT 430 1GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (144%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB is much (approximately 322%) better at AF than the GeForce GT 430 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 36032 (322%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 250 512MB is superior to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		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 across the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's 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 are processed in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of 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 texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines 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 rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.