GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which has core clock speeds of 700 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 96 SPUs as well as 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 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (75%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should theoretically be quite a bit superior to the GeForce GT 430 1GB in general. (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 (more or less 200%) better at 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 quite a bit (approximately 243%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 430 1GB, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (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: Bandwidth is the largest amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface 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 memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs 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 also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.