GeForce 9800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTS 250 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, which uses a 65/55 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 738 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a speed of 1100 MHz on this card. It features 128 SPUs as well as 64 Texture Address Units and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTS 250 1GB should in theory be a lot better than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (22%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB should be a lot (approximately 41%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 13632 (41%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 250 1GB is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units 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 most pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel 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 ability to get to the max fill rate.