GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB vs GeForce GTX 650

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 650, which has a clock speed of 1058 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1250 MHz. It also makes use of a 128-bit memory bus, and uses a 28 nm design. It features 384 SPUs, 32 Texture Address Units, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 650		64 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		90 Watts
	Difference: 26 Watts (41%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 650 should be much faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 650		80000 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 22400 (39%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 650 should be just a bit (more or less 9%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 650		33856 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		31200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2656 (9%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 650 is quite a bit (approximately 63%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB, and also able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 650		16928 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6528 (63%)

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 largest amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics 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 graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.