GeForce 9800 GT 1GB vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a frequency of 900 MHz on this particular card. It features 96 SPUs along with 16 Texture Address Units and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		105 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (75%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB is 100% quicker than the GeForce GT 430 1GB overall, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 28800 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 1GB is quite a bit (more or less 200%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 430 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22400 (200%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 1GB is quite a bit (more or less 243%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce GT 430 1GB, and will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6800 (243%)

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 max amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.