GeForce 9800 GX2 vs GeForce GT 340 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 340 1GB, which features a GPU core clock speed of 550 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 850 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 96 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		69 Watts
GeForce 9800 GX2		197 Watts
	Difference: 128 Watts (186%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9800 GX2 should in theory perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 340 1GB in general. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		128000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 73600 (135%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 should be much (more or less 336%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 340 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		76800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 59200 (336%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GX2 is a lot (approximately 336%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 340 1GB, and should be capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GX2		19200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 14800 (336%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, 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 processed per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better 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 most pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.