GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB vs Radeon HD 7950 3GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 7950 3GB, which features a core clock frequency of 800 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1250 MHz. It also features a 384-bit bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It features 1792 SPUs, 112 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		84 Watts
Radeon HD 7950 3GB		200 Watts
	Difference: 116 Watts (138%)

Memory Bandwidth

The Radeon HD 7950 3GB, in theory, should be much faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB overall. (explain)

Radeon HD 7950 3GB		240000 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 201600 (525%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 7950 3GB is quite a bit (about 239%) better at AF than the GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB. (explain)

Radeon HD 7950 3GB		89600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 63200 (239%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 7950 3GB should be much (about 288%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB, and also will be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

Radeon HD 7950 3GB		25600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19000 (288%)

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 moved across the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as 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 memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.