GeForce 8500 GT vs GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB, which has core clock speeds of 550 MHz on the GPU, and 850 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 96 SPUs along with 32 TAUs and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8500 GT		45 Watts
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		70 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (56%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB should in theory be a lot superior to the GeForce 8500 GT overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		54400 MB/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (325%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB should be much (more or less 389%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8500 GT. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		3600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 14000 (389%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB is a lot (about 144%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 8500 GT, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		1800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2600 (144%)

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 data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 can be processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, 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 graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out 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 output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.