GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 340 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 340 1GB, which has 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 is made up of 96 Stream Processors, 32 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		69 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 36 Watts (52%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GT 340 1GB should perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		54400 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
	Difference: 9600 (21%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be much (more or less 91%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 340 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 16000 (91%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be quite a bit (about 118%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 340 1GB, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5200 (118%)

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 largest amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, 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 number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.