GeForce 9800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 240 GDDR5

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5, which features GPU core speed of 550 MHz, and 512 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 850 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 96 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		70 Watts
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 35 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB is 6% quicker than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 overall, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (6%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 512MB will be much (approximately 91%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 16000 (91%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB is superior to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5, by far. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5200 (118%)

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 largest amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core 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 applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.