GeForce 8800 GTX vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which comes with a clock frequency of 738 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 1100 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit bus, and makes use of a 65/55 nm design. It is comprised of 128 SPUs, 64 Texture Address Units, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTX		155 Watts
	Difference: 10 Watts (7%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 8800 GTX, in theory, should be a lot faster than the GeForce GTS 250 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		86400 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (23%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB will be a lot (approximately 28%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8800 GTX. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		36800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 10432 (28%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 8800 GTX is a better choice, but only just. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		13800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1992 (17%)

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 information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.