GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB vs GeForce GTX 660 Ti

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, which features a clock speed of 915 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1500 MHz. It also makes use of a 192-bit bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It is made up of 1344 SPUs, 112 TAUs, and 24 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		90 Watts
GeForce GTX 660 Ti		150 Watts
	Difference: 60 Watts (67%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti will be 150% quicker than the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		144000 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 86400 (150%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 Ti will be much (about 228%) better at AF than the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		102480 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		31200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 71280 (228%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 660 Ti is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		21960 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11560 (111%)

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 MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, 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 worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.