GeForce 8800 GS vs GeForce GT 340 1GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 340 1GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 550 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a speed of 850 MHz on this specific card. It features 96 SPUs as well as 32 Texture Address Units and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		69 Watts
GeForce 8800 GS		105 Watts
	Difference: 36 Watts (52%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 340 1GB is 42% quicker than the GeForce 8800 GS overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		54400 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GS		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (42%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GS is a lot (approximately 50%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 340 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GS		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8800 (50%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GS will be a lot (about 50%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 340 1GB, and able to handle higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GS		6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2200 (50%)

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 information (counted in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This number is calculated 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 texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.