GeForce 9800 GX2 vs GeForce GT 340 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 340 1GB, which comes with a core clock speed of 550 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 850 MHz. It also makes use of a 128-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is made up of 96 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		69 Watts
GeForce 9800 GX2		197 Watts
	Difference: 128 Watts (186%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9800 GX2 should in theory perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 340 1GB overall. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		128000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 73600 (135%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 will be a lot (more or less 336%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce GT 340 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		76800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 59200 (336%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 will be quite a bit (more or less 336%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GT 340 1GB, and also should be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		19200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 14800 (336%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 amount of 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 the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.