GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB, which uses a 90 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 513 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a frequency of 792 MHz on this specific card. It features 96 SPUs along with 48 TAUs and 20 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		143 Watts
	Difference: 38 Watts (36%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB, in theory, should perform a lot faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB in general. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		63360 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
	Difference: 18560 (41%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB will be quite a bit (about 36%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		24624 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8976 (36%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB is the winner, though not by far. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		10260 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 660 (7%)

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 max amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. 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 memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.