GeForce 9800 GX2 vs GeForce GTX 465

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 465, which features GPU core speed of 607 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 802 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 352 SPUs, 44 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GX2		197 Watts
GeForce GTX 465		200 Watts
	Difference: 3 Watts (2%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce 9800 GX2 should in theory be much superior to the GeForce GTX 465 overall. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		128000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 465		102592 MB/sec
	Difference: 25408 (25%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 will be a lot (about 188%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 465. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		76800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 465		26708 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 50092 (188%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 465 is the winner, though only just barely. (explain)

GeForce GTX 465		19424 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GX2		19200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 224 (1%)

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.

One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This number 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 graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.