GeForce 9800 GT 1GB vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which has clock speeds of 700 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 96 SPUs along with 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 GT 1GB		105 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (75%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB should be 100% quicker than the GeForce GT 430 1GB overall, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 28800 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 1GB will be much (approximately 200%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce GT 430 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22400 (200%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		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 maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka 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, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.