GeForce 9800 GX2 vs GeForce GTS 150

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTS 150, which has a core clock frequency of 740 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 500 MHz. It also features a 256-bit bus, and uses a 55 nm design. It features 128 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 150		141 Watts
GeForce 9800 GX2		197 Watts
	Difference: 56 Watts (40%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 9800 GX2 should be much faster than the GeForce GTS 150 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		128000 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 150		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 96000 (300%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 should be a lot (approximately 62%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTS 150. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		76800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTS 150		47360 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 29440 (62%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 is much (more or less 62%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GTS 150, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		19200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 150		11840 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7360 (62%)

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.

One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, 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 is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number 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 rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.