GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which features a core clock frequency of 738 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 1100 MHz. It also features a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 65/55 nm design. It is made up of 128 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		143 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
	Difference: 2 Watts (1%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB should perform just a bit faster than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		63360 MB/sec
	Difference: 7040 (11%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be a lot (approximately 92%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		24624 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22608 (92%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 250 512MB is a better choice, but only just. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		10260 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1548 (15%)

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 MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the better 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 can be processed per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at handling 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 graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the clock 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 fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.