GeForce 8800 GTX vs GeForce GTX 550 Ti

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 550 Ti, which features core speeds of 900 MHz on the GPU, and 1026 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 192 SPUs as well as 32 TAUs and 24 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 550 Ti		116 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTX		155 Watts
	Difference: 39 Watts (34%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 550 Ti should theoretically be just a bit faster than the GeForce 8800 GTX overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 550 Ti		98496 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		86400 MB/sec
	Difference: 12096 (14%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTX should be a lot (more or less 28%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 550 Ti. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		36800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 550 Ti		28800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8000 (28%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 550 Ti will be a lot (approximately 57%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 8800 GTX, and should be able to handle higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 550 Ti		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		13800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7800 (57%)

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 maximum amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, 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 processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at 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 card can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.