GeForce 9800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 240 GDDR5

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 550 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a speed of 850 MHz on this card. It features 96 SPUs along with 32 TAUs and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		70 Watts
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 35 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB should in theory be just a bit better than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 overall. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (6%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 512MB should be much (more or less 91%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 16000 (91%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 512MB will be quite a bit (approximately 118%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5, and able to handle higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video 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 number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.