GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 vs GeForce GTX 560

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 560, which features a clock speed of 810 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1001 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		84 Watts
GeForce GTX 560		150 Watts
	Difference: 66 Watts (79%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 560 is 701% quicker than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 in general, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560		128128 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 112128 (701%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 560 is quite a bit (approximately 72%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560		45360 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 18960 (72%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 560 is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560		25920 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19320 (293%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it should 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 can be processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, 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 maximum amount of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to the 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 clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.