GeForce 8800 GTX vs GeForce GTS 250 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, which has core clock speeds of 738 MHz on the GPU, and 1100 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 128 SPUs along with 64 Texture Address Units and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTX		155 Watts
	Difference: 10 Watts (7%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8800 GTX is 23% quicker than the GeForce GTS 250 1GB in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		86400 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (23%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB is much (about 28%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 GTX. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		36800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 10432 (28%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTX is a bit (approximately 17%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, and also will be capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		13800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1992 (17%)

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 transported across the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the card will be at 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 video card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated 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 is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.