GeForce 9800 GX2 vs GeForce GTX 260

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 260, which makes use of a 65 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 576 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a frequency of 999 MHz on this model. It features 192 SPUs along with 64 Texture Address Units and 28 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 260		182 Watts
GeForce 9800 GX2		197 Watts
	Difference: 15 Watts (8%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9800 GX2, in theory, should be just a bit faster than the GeForce GTX 260 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		128000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 260		111888 MB/sec
	Difference: 16112 (14%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 will be much (more or less 108%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 260. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		76800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 260		36864 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 39936 (108%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 will be a little bit (more or less 19%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce GTX 260, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		19200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 260		16128 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3072 (19%)

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.

One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card 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 processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.