GeForce 9800 GTX vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM is set to run at a speed of 900 MHz on this specific model. It features 96 SPUs as well as 16 TAUs and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
GeForce 9800 GTX		140 Watts
	Difference: 80 Watts (133%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce 9800 GTX should theoretically be much superior to the GeForce GT 430 1GB in general. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GTX		70400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (144%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GTX is much (approximately 286%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 430 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GTX		43200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32000 (286%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GTX should be quite a bit (approximately 286%) better at FSAA than the GeForce GT 430 1GB, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GTX		10800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 8000 (286%)

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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card could possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.