GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTX 660

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 660, which features core clock speeds of 980 MHz on the GPU, and 1502 MHz on the 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 960 SPUs along with 80 TAUs and 24 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		95 Watts
GeForce GTX 660		140 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (47%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 660 should perform a lot faster than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		144192 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 86592 (150%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 is quite a bit (more or less 277%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		78400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		20800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 57600 (277%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 will be much (about 126%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660		23520 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 13120 (126%)

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 max amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the 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 number of pixels the video card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.