GeForce 9800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which has core clock speeds of 738 MHz on the GPU, and 1100 MHz on the 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM. It features 128 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be 22% quicker than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (22%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be quite a bit (more or less 41%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 13632 (41%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be quite a bit (approximately 23%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB, and also should be able to handle higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2208 (23%)

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 maximum amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it 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 higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.