GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 230

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 230, which has a clock frequency of 550 MHz and a DDR3 memory frequency of 800 MHz. It also makes use of a 192-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is made up of 32 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 230		65 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (62%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should perform a small bit faster than the GeForce GT 230 in general. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 230		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (17%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be quite a bit (about 282%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 230. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 230		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 24800 (282%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is a lot (more or less 118%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 230, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 230		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5200 (118%)

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 MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one 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 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, 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 that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.