GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM is set to run at a speed of 900 MHz on this card. It features 96 SPUs along with 16 TAUs and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (75%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be 56% faster than the GeForce GT 430 1GB in general, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (56%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is quite a bit (approximately 200%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GT 430 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22400 (200%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be a lot (more or less 243%) more effective at AA than the GeForce GT 430 1GB, and capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		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 (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video 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 that the graphics chip could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.