GeForce 9800 GT 1GB vs GeForce GTS 250 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, which has GPU clock speed of 738 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 1100 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 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 9800 GT 1GB		105 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTS 250 1GB should be 22% quicker than the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (22%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB should be a lot (approximately 41%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 13632 (41%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 250 1GB is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2208 (23%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.