GeForce 9800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a speed of 900 MHz on this card. It features 96 SPUs along with 16 Texture Address Units and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (75%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB should be 100% faster than the GeForce GT 430 1GB overall, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 28800 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 512MB should be a lot (more or less 200%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GT 430 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22400 (200%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 512MB should be quite a bit (approximately 243%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 430 1GB, and will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		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 max amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to 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 potential to reach the maximum fill rate.